Opinion ID: 1367014
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Immunity Issue

Text: (1a) Segretti contends that his privilege against self-incrimination was violated when his immunized testimony was used at the State Bar proceedings. Transcripts of his testimony before the United States Senate's Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (hereafter called the Senate Watergate Committee) and at the trial in a criminal action against Dwight Chapin constituted a major part of the State Bar's evidence. Segretti testified before the Senate Watergate Committee pursuant to a court order directing him to do so and extending him immunity as provided in 18 United States Code section 6002. [4] He also testified at the Chapin trial under a grant of immunity, and from counsels' remarks it appears that such immunity was likewise granted under section 6002. (2) The Fifth Amendment of the federal Constitution provides that No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.... (Italics added.) This provision is made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. ( Malloy v. Hogan (1964) 378 U.S. 1, 7 [12 L.Ed.2d 653, 658-659, 84 S.Ct. 1489].) Article I, section 15, of the California Constitution contains a substantially identical provision. The privilege can be asserted in any proceeding civil or criminal, administrative or judicial, investigatory or adjudicatory; [fn. omitted] and it protects against any disclosures that the witness reasonably believes could be used in a criminal prosecution or could lead to other evidence that might be so used. (Italics added.) ( Kastigar v. United States, supra, 406 U.S. 441, 444-445 [32 L.Ed.2d 212, 216-217].) One facet of the privilege is that the [g]overnment may not permit the use in a criminal trial of self incriminating statements elicited by compulsion. (Italics added.) (See Murphy v. Waterfront Comm'n. (1964) 378 U.S. 52, 57, fn. 6 [12 L.Ed.2d 678, 683, 84 S.Ct. 1594].) (1b) The purpose of disciplinary proceedings against attorneys is not to punish but rather to protect the court and public from the official ministrations of persons unfit to practice. (See, e.g., Emslie v. State Bar (1974) 11 Cal.3d 210, 225 [113 Cal. Rptr. 175, 520 P.2d 991]; Black v. State Bar (1972) 7 Cal.3d 676, 686, 688 [103 Cal. Rptr. 288, 499 P.2d 968]; Best v. State Bar (1962) 57 Cal.2d 633, 637 [21 Cal. Rptr. 589, 371 P.2d 325].) Such a proceeding is not a criminal case for purposes of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. ( Black v. State Bar, supra, at pp. 686-688; In re Schwarz (1972) 5 Ill.2d 334 [282 N.E.2d 689, 691] [cert. den., 409 U.S. 1047 (34 L.Ed.2d 499, 93 S.Ct. 527), rehg. den., 410 U.S. 947 (35 L.Ed.2d 281, 93 S.Ct. 959)]; Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. v. Sugarman (1974) 273 Md. 306 [329 A.2d 1, 7] [cert. den., 420 U.S. 974 (43 L.Ed.2d 654, 95 S.Ct. 1397)]; Zuckerman v. Greason (1967) 20 N.Y.2d 430 [285 N.Y.S.2d 1, 231 N.E.2d 718, 721] [cert. den., 390 U.S. 925 (19 L.Ed.2d 985, 88 S.Ct. 856), rehg. den., 390 U.S. 975 (19 L.Ed.2d 1196, 88 S.Ct. 1031)]; Committee on Legal Eth. of W. Va. St. Bar v. Graziani (W. Va. 1973) 200 S.E.2d 353, 354-357, 62 A.L.R.3d 1138 [cert. den., 416 U.S. 995 (40 L.Ed.2d 774, 94 S.Ct. 2410)]; cf. In re Rouss (1917) 221 N.Y. 81 [116 N.E. 782, 784]). Thus that privilege was not violated by the use at the instant proceedings of testimony given by Segretti under grants of immunity. ( In re Schwarz, supra ; Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. v. Sugarman, supra ; Committee on Legal Eth. of W. Va. St. Bar v. Graziani, supra ; In re Klebanoff (1968) 21 N.Y.2d 920 [289 N.Y.S.2d 755, 237 N.E.2d 75] [cert. den., 393 U.S. 840 (21 L.Ed.2d 110, 89 S.Ct. 118)]; cf. Napolitano v. Ward (7th Cir.1972) 457 F.2d 279, 282-284 [cert. den., 409 U.S. 1037 (34 L.Ed.2d 486, 93 S.Ct. 512), rehg. den., 410 U.S. 947 (35 L.Ed.2d 616, 93 S.Ct. 1351)]; see annot. (1975) 62 A.L.R.3d 1145, 1147-1148, 1151-1152.) Spevack v. Klein (1967) 385 U.S. 511 [17 L.Ed.2d 574, 87 S.Ct. 625], cited by Segretti, does not aid him. Spevack held that an attorney may not be disbarred for claiming his privilege against self-incrimination. As we noted in Black v. State Bar, supra, 7 Cal.3d 676, 687, Although Spevack suggests to at least one commentator that the United States Supreme Court would now regard a disciplinary proceeding as criminal for purposes of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination [citation], courts and other commentators have expressly or impliedly rejected that view [citations]. (See also In re Schwarz, supra, 282 N.E.2d 689, 691; Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. v. Sugarman, supra, 329 A.2d 1, 3-4, 7; Committee on Legal Eth. of W. Va. St. Bar v. Graziani, supra, 200 S.E.2d 353, 356; annot., supra, 62 A.L.R.3d 1145, 1148.)