innocent get 5th too
Blank Frank
bf at farc.org
Mon Mar 19 10:26:31 PST 2001
John Young, you get the 5th too....
Mar 19, 2001 - 11:49 AM
Court Says Innocent Can Refuse
to Testify
By Anne Gearan
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - "Taking the Fifth" is an option
open to the innocent as well as the guilty, the
Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The unanimous decision stems from the conviction
of an Ohio man in the "shaken baby" death of his
infant son. The Supreme Court affirmed the right of
the family baby sitter to claim Fifth Amendment
protection from self-incrimination even if prosecutors
did not accuse her of wrongdoing.
Matthew Reiner claimed the baby sitter harmed
10-week-old Alex in 1995, but Toledo prosecutors
instead focused on him and planned to call the baby
sitter to testify against him.
They did not intend to prosecute Susan Batt, but she
nevertheless refused to testify unless given a
promise of immunity. Otherwise, she would exercise
her Fifth Amendment right not to testify, she told
prosecutors.
When she testified, Batt denied ever harming Alex or
his twin brother, who suffered broken bones. Reiner
was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to probation.
The Ohio Supreme Court ultimately threw out the
conviction on grounds that Batt's protected testimony
unfairly undermined Reiner's defense.
Ohio prosecutors appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which issued a short, unsigned opinion
Monday without hearing oral arguments.
"That tells us it was so clear the Ohio Supreme Court
was wrong in its analysis of the facts and the law,"
Toledo prosecutor J. Christopher Anderson said.
Monday's decision apparently reinstates Reiner's
conviction, Anderson said.
Even if Batt had nothing to do with Alex's death, she
had a reasonable fear that testifying "might tend to
incriminate her," the justices wrote.
"Batt spent extended periods of time alone with Alex
and his brother in the weeks immediately preceding
discovery of their injuries. She was with Alex within
the potential timeframe of the fatal trauma," the
justices wrote.
Hence, Batt was free to assert her Fifth Amendment
rights, the justices said.
Previous Supreme Court decisions set a precedent
that the Fifth Amendment "protects the innocent as
well as the guilty," the court said.
The case is Ohio v. Reiner, 00-1028.
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