Villarreal v. Texas, 2026 U.S. LEXIS 1103 (February 25, 2026)
This Supreme Court case deals with a situation where testimony of a witness is interrupted by the overnight. Since it is a criminal case and a federal case, it really addresses the sixth amendment but is useful in civil cases in state court as well. The Court prohibited the defense lawyer only from “managing” the defendant’s testimony; it permitted all other discussion. The Court concluded that this qualified conferral order permissibly balanced the right to counsel against the burden of offering unilateral trial testimony and the United States Supreme Court affirmed.
