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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