Opinion ID: 886072
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Invocation of Spousal Privilege

Text: ¶ 43 Next, Hagen contends that his appellate counsel should have raised on direct appeal his trial counsel's failure to object to the State's comments on Hagen's spouse's invocation of spousal privilege. Hagen asserts that the prosecution clearly questioned Gabby Hagen about why she would not offer a statement about her husband, in contravention of Rule 505, M.R.Evid. Those actions, according to Hagen, were patently improper because of the inferences that could be drawn from Gabby's decision not to offer a statement. ¶ 44 We analyze alleged prosecutorial misconduct in cases such as this to determine whether the language used was manifestly intended or of such a character that a jury would naturally and necessarily take it as a comment on the failure of the privileged individual to testify. See State v. Dawson (1988), 233 Mont. 345, 356, 761 P.2d 352, 359. After review of the record in this case, we cannot conclude that the jury would naturally and necessarily have interpreted the comments of the prosecutor as comments on Gabby Hagen's invocation of spousal privilege. Therefore, we conclude that Hagen's appellate counsel did not err by failing to raise the issue on appeal.