Opinion ID: 371030
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Fifth Amendment Privilege

Text: 29 Appellant Metz claims that the trial court erred in sustaining the assertion of fifth amendment privilege by John Bland, Metz's codefendant. Metz sought from Bland purportedly exculpatory testimony but was deterred by Bland's invocation of his right not to incriminate himself. Bland previously had pled guilty to the federal conspiracy charge and was serving his sentence. Consequently, he was not subject to further federal prosecution. Bland nevertheless refused to testify for Metz, unsure whether he would risk state prosecution and fearful that his testimony, exculpating Metz but inculpating other codefendants, would subject him to danger in prison. 30 To ascertain the validity of Bland's fifth amendment claim, the trial court properly appointed counsel and questioned Bland, scrutinizing his rationale for refusing to testify. Rogers v. United States, 340 U.S. 367, 71 S.Ct. 438, 95 L.Ed. 344 (1951); United States v. Wilcox, 450 F.2d 1131, 1136-37 (5th Cir. 1971), Cert. denied, 405 U.S. 917, 92 S.Ct. 944, 30 L.Ed.2d 787 (1972). That inquiry satisfied the trial court that by testifying Bland might subject himself to state prosecution. The substantial possibility of prosecution sufficed to excuse Bland. Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 486-87, 71 S.Ct. 814, 95 L.Ed. 1118 (1951); United States v. Melchor Moreno, 536 F.2d 1042, 1046-47 (5th Cir. 1976). Appellant Metz asserts that the state's failure to prosecute within the time limits of Florida's speedy trial provision, Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.191(a)(1), relieved all risk of prosecution. Too many variables affect the time limits of that rule for the trial court to have been sure that Bland faced no risk of prosecution. See, e. g., Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.191(d)(2). Absent any showing that the trial court abused its discretion in resolving the validity of Bland's claim, the decision must stand. United States v. Melchor Moreno, 536 F.2d at 1050 (5th Cir. 1976). 31 Appellant Metz further contends that, even if valid as to some matters, Bland's fifth amendment invocation embraced not only privileged testimony but also collateral matters posing no threat of prosecution. He argues that to elicit from Bland a statement negating any meeting with Metz on December 14, 1977, would not necessarily raise issues incriminating to Bland. We recognize the strictures against blanket invocation of the fifth amendment privilege. Id. at 1049. Nonetheless, we refuse to overturn a determination, made in the trial judge's informed discretion, that to compel any testimony from Bland would violate his constitutional privilege. See United States v. Lacouture, 495 F.2d 1237, 1239 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1053, 95 S.Ct. 631, 42 L.Ed.2d 648 (1974).