Opinion ID: 717611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prosecution witness' invocation of the Fifth Amendment

Text: 15 Upon being asked whether he had ever bought any vehicles from Danny Ray, prosecution witness Tommy Hoskins responded, On advice of my attorney and under the Fifth Amendment, I'll have to refuse to answer any questions. The district court denied Danny Ray's immediate motion for a mistrial. 16 We review for abuse of discretion a district court's refusal to grant a mistrial. See United States v. Quinn, 543 F.2d 640, 650 (8th Cir.1976). We have held that a mistrial may be warranted when a prosecutor calls a witness to the stand with advance knowledge that the witness will invoke the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 650. In such a case, we must consider the prosecutor's motive and the likelihood of the jury's drawing unwarranted inferences against the defendant. In the present case there is no evidence that the prosecutor knew that Hoskins would invoke the Fifth Amendment. The prosecutor's apparent motive in calling Hoskins was to prove that Danny Ray had sold Hoskins a stolen vehicle with a salvage title. In any event, Danny Ray suffered no prejudice regarding his involvement with Hoskins, as he was acquitted on the one count involving Hoskins. Moreover, given the abundance of testimony at trial against Danny Ray, it seems unlikely that the jury would have in any way been unduly affected by Hoskins' invocation of the Fifth Amendment. Thus, we find no error in the district court's refusal to grant a mistrial.