Opinion ID: 1800646
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: failure to produce witness

Text: If a party has failed to produce a witness (1)(a) who was available to him by the exercise of reasonable diligence; (b) who was not equally available to the adverse party; and (c) who would have been produced by a reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances if that person had reason to believe the testimony to be favorable to him, and (2) No reasonable explanation for such failure is given, you may infer that the testimony of the witness would be unfavorable to that party. Dachtler contends that Gray was not equally available to both parties because the State could have requested immunity for Gray and thereby elicited his testimony. We do not believe, however, that the missing witness instruction is applicable in situations where the witness in question is present and called to testify but claims a valid testimonial privilege. State v. Unterseher, 255 N.W.2d 882, 890 (N.D. 1977); State v. Smith, 238 N.W.2d 662, 667 (N.D.1976). By its very language, the instruction, NDJI 1006, applies only when the party has failed to produce a witness. In the instant case, Gray was present at trial and was called to the stand. Furthermore, even if we accepted Dachtler's contention that Gray was not equally available to him because the State could have elicited Gray's testimony by a request for immunity, the instruction further provides that an adverse inference arises only if no reasonable explanation for the failure to produce the witness is given. In this case, the State clearly had a reasonable explanation for refusing to produce Gray's testimony through a request for immunitythe State believed that Gray was involved in the burglary, and the potential for charging Gray with burglary still existed. We conclude that the missing witness instruction is inappropriate in situations where the witness in question appears at trial and asserts a valid Fifth Amendment testimonial privilege, and the district court did not err in refusing to give the missing witness instruction in this case.