Opinion ID: 2360451
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Boyd Inquiry

Text: Appellant contends that the trial court committed reversible error by failing to conduct a Boyd inquiry before he testified on his own behalf. See Boyd v. United States, 586 A.2d 670 (D.C.1991). Boyd stands for the proposition that a defendant's right to testify on his own behalf in a criminal trial is one that may only be waived by the defendant, see id. at 674, and suggests that when a defendant does not testify, the trial court should establish an on-the-record waiver to establish that the defendant knew of his right to testify on his own behalf before choosing not to do so, see id. at 678-79, n. 15. It follows, therefore, that where the defendant elects to testify on his own behalf, as appellant did here, Boyd does not govern. See Smith v. United States, 837 A.2d 87, 99 (D.C.2003) (noting that Boyd did not address whether a similar rule obtains for a testifying defendant). Even if Boyd's concern for ensuring a defendant's knowing waiver of a constitutional right were extended to a testifying defendant, the trial court did not plainly err in failing to advise appellant of his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, where appellant was represented by counsel and there was no indication that appellant was unduly compelled to testify. See id.; Bardoff v. United States, 628 A.2d 86, 93 n. 12 (D.C.1993) (`The Fifth Amendment simply is not implicated when a defendant feels pressured to take the stand in order to rebut the evidence cumulated against him.') (quoting United States v. Wright, 251 U.S.App. D.C. 276, 281, 783 F.2d 1091, 1096 (1986)). Affirmed.