Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/392/273/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:51:36+00:00

Document:
Appellant, a police officer, was subpoenaed by and appeared before a grand jury which was investigating alleged bribery and corruption of police officers, and was advised that the grand jury proposed to examine him concerning the performance of his official duties. He was advised of his privilege against self-incrimination, but was asked to sign a "waiver of immunity" after being told that he would be fired if he did not sign. He refused to do so, was given an administrative hearing, and was discharged solely for his refusal, pursuant to § 1123 of the New York City Charter. The New York Supreme Court dismissed his petition for reinstatement, and the New York Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U. S. 493, was not controlling, and distinguishing Spevack v. Klein, 385 U. S. 511 (both decided after appellant's discharge).
Held: If appellant, a policeman, had refused to answer questions directly relating to the performance of his official duties, without being required to waive his immunity with respect to the use of his answers or the fruits thereof in a criminal prosecution of himself, Garrity, supra, the privilege against self-incrimination would not have been a bar to his dismissal. However, his dismissal solely for his refusal to waive the immunity to which he is entitled if he is required to testify despite his constitutional privilege, and the New York City Charter provision pursuant to which he was dismissed, cannot stand. Pp. 392 U. S. 276-279.
20 N.Y.2d 227, 229 N.E.2d 184, reversed.
The New York Supreme Court dismissed his petition for reinstatement, 27 App.Div.2d 800, 279 N.Y.S.2d 150 (1967), and the New York Court of Appeals affirmed. 20 N.Y.2d 227, 229 N.E.2d 184 (1967). We noted probable jurisdiction. 390 U.S. 918 (1968).
Our decisions establish beyond dispute the breadth of the privilege to refuse to respond to questions when the result may be self-incriminatory, and the need fully to implement its guaranty. See Spevack v. Klein, 385 U. S. 511 (1967); Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547, 142 U. S. 585-586 (1892); Albertson v. SACB, 382 U. S. 70, 382 U. S. 80 (1965). The privilege is applicable to state as well as federal proceedings. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U. S. 1 (1964); Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, 378 U. S. 52 (1964). The privilege may be waived in appropriate circumstances if the waiver is knowingly and voluntarily made. Answers may be compelled regardless of the privilege if there is immunity from federal and state use of the compelled testimony or its fruits in connection with a criminal prosecution against the person testifying. Counselman v. Hitchcock, supra, at 142 U. S. 585-586; Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, supra, at 378 U. S. 79.
The question presented in the present case is whether a policeman who refuses to waive the protections which the privilege gives him may be dismissed from office because of that refusal.
About a year and a half after New York City discharged petitioner for his refusal to waive this immunity, we decided Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U. S. 493 (1967). In that case, we held that, when a policeman had been compelled to testify by the threat that otherwise he would be removed from office, the testimony that he gave could not be used against him in a subsequent prosecution. Garrity had not signed a waiver of immunity, and no immunity statute was applicable in the circumstances.
"We now hold the protection of the individual under the Fourteenth Amendment against coerced statements prohibits use in subsequent criminal proceedings of statements obtained under threat of removal from office, and that it extends to all, whether they are policemen or other members of our body politic."
We agree that these factors differentiate the situations. If appellant, a policeman, had refused to answer questions specifically, directly, and narrowly relating to the performance of his official duties, [Footnote 5] without being required to waive his immunity with respect to the use of his answers or the fruits thereof in a criminal prosecution of himself, Garrity v. New Jersey, supra, the privilege against self-incrimination would not have been a bar to his dismissal.
The facts of this case, however, do not present this issue. Here, petitioner was summoned to testify before a grand jury in an investigation of alleged criminal conduct. He was discharged from office not for failure to answer relevant questions about his official duties, but for refusal to waive a constitutional right. He was dismissed for failure to relinquish the protections of the privilege against self-incrimination. The Constitution of New York State and the City Charter both expressly provided that his failure to do so, as well as his failure to testify, would result in dismissal from his job. He was dismissed solely for his refusal to waive the immunity to which he is entitled if he is required to testify despite his constitutional privilege. Garrity v. New Jersey, supra.
the waiver. New York City discharged him for refusal to execute a document purporting to waive his constitutional rights and to permit prosecution of himself on the basis of his compelled testimony. Petitioner could not have assumed -- and certainly he was not required to assume -- that he was being asked to do an idle act of no legal effect. In any event, the mandate of the great privilege against self-incrimination does not tolerate the attempt, regardless of its ultimate effectiveness, to coerce a waiver of the immunity it confers on penalty of the loss of employment. It is clear that petitioner's testimony was demanded before the grand jury in part so that it might he used to prosecute him, and not solely for the purpose of securing an accounting of his performance of his public trust. If the latter had been the only purpose, there would have been no reason to seek to compel petitioner to waive his immunity.
"You understand . . . that, under the Constitution of the United States, as well as the Constitution of New York, no one can be compelled to testify against himself, and that he has a right, the absolute right to refuse to answer any questions that would tend to incriminate him?"
"You understand . . . that, under the Constitution of New York, as well as the Charter of the City of New York, . . . a public officer, which includes a police officer, when called before a Grand Jury to answer questions concerning the conduct of his public office and the performance of his duties, is required to sign a waiver of immunity if he wishes to retain that public office?"
"I . . . do hereby waive all benefits, privileges, rights and immunity which I would otherwise obtain from indictment, prosecution, and punishment for or on account of, regarding or relating to any matter, transaction or things, concerning the conduct of my office or the performance of my official duties, or the property, government or affairs of the State of New York or of any county included within its territorial limits, or the nomination, election, appointment or official conduct of any officer of the city or of any such county, concerning any of which matters, transactions or things I may testify or produce evidence documentary or otherwise, before the [blank] Grand Jury in the County of New York, in the investigation being conducted by said Grand Jury."
"No person shall be . . . compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, providing, that any public officer who, upon being called before a grand jury to testify concerning the conduct of his present office . . . or the performance of his official duties . . . refuses to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent criminal prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, shall by virtue of such refusal, be disqualified from holding any other public office or public employment for a period of five years . . . and shall be removed from his present office by the appropriate authority or shall forfeit his present office at the suit of the attorney general."
Cf. Spevack v. Klein, supra, at 385 U. S. 519-520 (concurring in judgment).
The statements in my separate opinion in Spevack v. Klein, supra, at 385 U. S. 519-520, to which the New York Court of Appeals referred, are expressly limited to situations of this kind.
See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 384 U. S. 458-466 (1966), and authorities cited therein.
See, e.g., Griffin v. California, 380 U. S. 609 (1965); Malloy v. Hogan, supra.

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