Opinion ID: 2461850
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether appellant was denied his right to confrontation when a person charged with the same offense as appellant was permitted to assert the privilege against self-incrimination on the witness stand.

Text: Appellant contends that he was denied his right to confrontation when George Owens was allowed to take the witness stand and then to assert the privilege against self-incrimination. However, the instant case is distinguishable from cases cited by appellant. In Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965), the United States Supreme Court determined that petitioner had been denied the right to confront witnesses against him. In Douglas the petitioner and another man were both indicted for assault with intent to murder and were tried separately. The co-indictee was found guilty and was then called by the state to testify at petitioner's trial. Intending to appeal his conviction, the co-indictee refused to answer questions. The trial judge permitted him to be examined as a hostile witness and the state then began reading the co-indictee's alleged confession, often pausing to ask the witness if he had made the statement. With each question the witness asserted the privilege against self-incrimination. Unlike the situation in the present case, the petitioner in Douglas was thus subject to a lengthy interrogation concerning the crime. The document containing the witness' alleged confession was the only direct evidence that petitioner assaulted the victim. In Higgs v. Commonwealth, Ky., 554 S.W.2d 75 (1977), the judgment was reversed because a co-indictee witness invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to a question asking whether Higgs had said he ripped off a store. The prosecutor had prior knowledge that the witness would claim her testimonial privilege; thus compounding the error. In Commonwealth v. Brown, Ky., 619 S.W.2d 699 (1981), the Court cited Higgs, when it affirmed the dismissal of a murder indictment. In Brown , four men were accused of burglarizing a home where a murder occurred. Two of the men confessed to the burglary and declared a third to be the murderer. The Commonwealth sought the testimony of the two men against the third and, knowing that they intended to assert the Fifth Amendment, planned to introduce their prior confessions. In contrast to these cases, there is no showing in the case at bar that the trial court or the prosecutor knew the witness would claim the privilege against self-incrimination. Though other witnesses referred to Owen's part in the murder, Owens was not asked even one question concerning the death of Henry Hamlin. Furthermore, Owen's testimony was not critical to the prosecution's case; there was sufficient evidence for conviction apart from any assumptions the jury may have made concerning Owen's refusal to testify. Thus, given the totality of the circumstances, if any error occurred in allowing Owens to testify, it was harmless.