diff --git a/src/array/specification.rs b/src/array/specification.rs
index 94b407c0328..276ba9a57c2 100644
--- a/src/array/specification.rs
+++ b/src/array/specification.rs
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ pub fn check_offsets_and_utf8<O: Offset>(offsets: &[O], values: &[u8]) -> usize
         let end = window[1].to_usize();
         assert!(end <= values.len());
         let slice = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(values.as_ptr().add(start), end - start) };
-        #[cfg(not(feature = "simdutf8"))]
         simdutf8::basic::from_utf8(slice).expect("A non-utf8 string was passed.");
     });
     len