Opinion ID: 196508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Waiver of Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination

Text: 38 Gary asserts that Hopkins waived his privilege against self-incrimination by virtue of his testimony in the first trial regarding the breaking and entering. Therefore, he contends, the trial court wrongly sustained Hopkins' claim of privilege in the second trial. 39 The Fifth Amendment privilege is fundamental to our system of constitutional rule. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 468, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1625, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). However, the privilege against self-incrimination presupposes a real danger of legal detriment arising from the disclosure. Rogers v. United States, 340 U.S. 367, 372-73, 71 S.Ct. 438, 442, 95 L.Ed. 344 (1951). Thus the privilege may be waived, see id. at 370-71, 71 S.Ct. at 400-41, or obviated by a prosecutorial grant of immunity. See Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 461-62, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 1665-66, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972); cf. United States v. Angiulo, 897 F.2d 1169, 1191 (1st Cir.) (court ordinarily cannot grant immunity), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 845, 111 S.Ct. 130, 112 L.Ed.2d 98 (1990). 40 Once a witness voluntarily has revealed an incriminating fact, the privilege cannot be invoked to avoid disclosure of the details. Rogers, 340 U.S. at 373, 71 S.Ct. at 442. However, [i]t is hornbook law that the waiver is limited to the particular proceeding in which the witness appears. United States v. Cain, 544 F.2d 1113, 1117 (1st Cir.1976) (co-defendant's submission to deposition in unrelated criminal proceeding not waiver of Fifth Amendment in proceeding in which co-defendant called as witness); see also Johnson, 488 F.2d at 1210-11 (witness's disclosures in entering guilty plea at Rule 11 hearing do not constitute waiver of privilege at co-defendant's trial); Kirane v. City of Lowell, 622 F.Supp. 262, 265 (D.Mass.1985) ([A] person who waives his privilege as to the one trial [is not] estopped from asserting the privilege as to the same matter in a subsequent trial or proceeding.); 8 J. Wigmore, Evidence Sec. 2276, at 470-72 (McNaughton rev. 1961) (The waiver involved is limited to the particular proceeding in which the witness volunteers the testimony or the accused takes the stand.... Nor is his testimony at a first trial a waiver for a later trial.) (emphasis in original). Therefore, Gary's contention that Hopkins waived his privilege in the second trial by testifying in the first trial is misplaced. 6 41