The right to not testify

Filed 10h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Onion Capers

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Jules Dalou · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The Ninth Circuit vacated a Hobbs Act robbery and firearm-brandishing conviction out of Washington, ruling a district court wrongly forced a tattooed defendant to take the stand just to display his hand tattoos to the jury.

The appellate panel found the display itself was not testimonial and should not have opened the door to cross-examination, meaning the man's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination was violated by the trial court's approach.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

You have a right against testifying against yourself, and a trial court apparently decided that right comes with an asterisk if your evidence happens to be visible skin art. A federal appeals court had to explain, out loud, that showing your hands is not the same as answering questions about your life. That's the kind of basic distinction a court shouldn't need three judges and an appeal to sort out.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Onion Capers · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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