Opinion ID: 2031543
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Burdening of the Right to Testify.

Text: The majority's holding also infringes upon a defendant's constitutional right to testify in his or her own defense by burdening the exercise of this right. Because the prosecution may impeach a defendant with his or her pre- Miranda silence once the defendant chooses to take the stand, the defendant at trial must decide whether to testify, in which event his or her silence will be used by prosecution to impeach, or not testify. The majority has presented the defendant with a Hobson's choice at trial which perverts the right to testify in one's own defense guaranteed to all of us by the federal and state constitutions. As the United States Supreme Court has noted in the related context of comment on a defendant's choice not to testify at trial, [i]t is a penalty imposed by courts for exercising a constitutional privilege. It cuts down on the privilege by making its assertion costly. Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. at 614.