• WtfEvenIsExistence@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    You can’t be forced to testify against yourself, but you can be forced to testify against others.

    Exceptions are: Spouses can’t be forced to testify against each other. Parents can’t be forced to testify against their child and same thing vice versa.

      • WtfEvenIsExistence@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        They can, they’ll just have to find other evidence. If there’s a court case with the defendants being a married couple who both refuse to testify and there’s no other evidence, it’s essentially the same as a court case with one defendant that’s refusing to testify against themself and there’s no other evidence. Both cases will result in dismissal.

      • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        You still can’t use the 5th to infer anything about the defendant in a criminal case. In a civil case, the court can take a person’s refusal to answer into account.

        • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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          1 year ago

          Some rulings that pleading the 5th can be considered cause for a warrant if not directly an admission of guilt.

          The past decade or so has also weakened rights in regards to you having to plead the 5th directly, and of course the “War on Terror” led to the Supreme Court more or less saying “No, actually, torture doesn’t count, plus we’re going to ignore that it’s been the official position of America for centuries that Constitutional rights are human rights (for a changing definition of human).”

          Taken as a whole the past couple decades have severely reduced the protections the government wants to admit the 5th offers.