Opinion ID: 852753
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Heading: The Holder of the Marital Privilege

Text: Wigmore took the view that the communicating spouse alone was the holder of the marital privilege. 8 Wigmore, supra, § 2340; Edward J. Imwinkelried, The New Wigmore: Evidentiary Privileges § 6.5.1, at 553-54 (2002) (citing Fraser v. United States, 145 F.2d 139 (6th Cir.1944), cert. denied sub nom.; Fraser v. Barton, 324 U.S. 849, 65 S.Ct. 684, 89 L.Ed. 1409 (1945); Century 21 Pinetree Properties, Inc. v. Cason, 220 Ga.App. 355, 469 S.E.2d 458, 460 (1996); 25 Wright & Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence § 5582, at 670 (1989)). Accord 1 John W. Strong, McCormick On Evidence § 83, at 335-36 (5th ed.1999). Under this view, in the case of a unilateral statement of a husband to his wife, only the husband can assert or waive the disqualification. McCormick, supra, § 83, at 335-36. This view is grounded on the rationale that encouraging communication between spouses is the reason for the marital privilege. Imwinkelried, supra, § 6.5.1, at 554. This Court embraced that view over 100 years ago: Where the criminal, in seeking advice and consolation, lays open his heart to his wife, the law regards the sacredness of their relation, and will not permit her to make known what he has thus communicated, even as it will not ask him to disclose it himself. But if what is said or done by either has no relation to their mutual trust and confidence as husband and wife, then the reason for secrecy ceases. Beyerline, 147 Ind. at 130, 45 N.E. at 774. We think both the statutory language and a more realistic view of the reasons for this privilege support the conclusion that either spouse may waive the privilege. The marital privilege is a subsection within the Privileges of Attorneys, Physicians, Clergymen, and Spouses statute, codified at Indiana Code section 34-46-3-1. It provides: Except as otherwise provided by statute, the following persons shall not be required to testify regarding the following communications: (1) Attorneys, as to confidential communications made to them in the course of their professional business, and as to advice given in such cases. (2) Physicians, as to matters communicated to them by patient, in the course of their professional business, or advice given in such cases. (3) Clergymen, as to the following confessions, admissions, or confidential communications: (A) Confessions or admissions made to a clergyman in the course of discipline enjoined by the clergyman's church. (B) A confidential communication made to a clergyman in the clergyman's professional character as a spiritual adviser or counselor. (4) Husband and wife, as to communications made to each other. We think the marital privilege is qualitatively different from the professional privileges. See Wright & Graham, supra, § 5577, at 607 (noting the differing nature of the two professional privileges; i.e. the attorney/client and physician/patient privileges). Each of those privileges is based on the professional counseling relationship between client, who is the holder of the privilege, and the counselor. The effectiveness of the professional services requires open and complete disclosure by the client. In each case the policy justifying the privilege is to encourage full and open disclosure of even very dangerous information. Lahr v. State, 731 N.E.2d 479, 482 (Ind.Ct.App.2000) (The attorney/client privilege is intended to encourage `full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients' ... [and allow] both the attorney and the client to give complete and confidential information.); Trueblood, 600 N.E.2d at 1360 (physician/patient privilege statute is intended to inspire full and complete disclosure of knowledge pertinent and necessary to a trustful and proper relationship). An attorney, physician, or priest is in a position to elicit information by assuring the client, patient, or penitent of the confidential nature of the communications. The existence of the privilege thus facilitates open communications to these professionals. The notion that spouses are encouraged to communicate by reason of the privilege seems highly questionable. As Wigmore put it, the occasional compulsory disclosure in court of even the most intimate marital communications would not in fact affect to any perceptible degree the extent to which spouses share confidences. 8 Wigmore, supra, § 2332. We share Wigmore's doubts that many spouses assure their mates of the court protection available for confidences in the course of pillow talk. In contrast to the other privileges the marital privilege is grounded at least in significant part not on a policy of promoting disclosure but on concern for the health of the ongoing relationship between husband and wife and the policy of preventing further conflict between them by forcing one to testify against the other. A desire to promote disclosure between spouses may be a secondary consideration in support of the marital privilege, but that factor is less critical than the need of an attorney to counsel or a doctor to treat based on complete and accurate information. Moreover, the marital privilege is subject to certain well-established exceptions and is not an absolute bar to all confidential communications. See, e.g., Russell v. State, 743 N.E.2d 269, 272 (Ind.2001). The privilege does not prevent a spouse from testifying when the offense was committed by one spouse against the other. Shepherd, 257 Ind. at 232-33, 277 N.E.2d at 167 (citing Doolittle v. State, 93 Ind. 272 (1884)). We have also held that a spouse's testimony concerning attempts to coerce the spouse is not within the marital privilege. Carlyle v. State, 428 N.E.2d 10, 12 (Ind.1981). In addition to the different policies and limitations applicable to the marital privilege, the statutory language also produces different results for the marital privilege than it does for the other privileges found in the same section. The marital privilege in Indiana provides that a court shall not [require] one spouse to testify against the other. I.C. § 34-46-3-1(4). As a matter of ordinary English, this permits a willing spouse to testify. Other privileges (attorney/client, physician/patient, priest/penitent) appear in the same section of the Indiana Code and the same linguistic point applies to them. But in the case of the attorney and the physician, each is bound by a formal obligation of the profession to keep the confidences of the client. Canfield v. Sandock, 563 N.E.2d 526, 529 n. 2 (Ind.1990) (The Hippocratic Oath imposes on physicians a duty to maintain confidences acquired in their professional capacity... [and the] boards governing the various areas of medical specialty police and enforce medical ethics.); Ind. Professional Conduct Rule 1.6 (subject to some specified exceptions, attorneys must keep their client's information confident). Many clerics are similarly bound. See, e.g., Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ch. 2, Art. 4 (1997) (The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation prohibits a priest by ecclesiastical law from revealing the substance of confessions even when the refusal to disclose results in imprisonment for contempt). These obligations create a right in the client to demand confidentiality, and the court cannot require testimony. There is no corresponding set of ethical and disciplinary rules for the marital relationship. Because privileges operate to deny access to relevant and often critical information, they are strictly construed. Roach, 669 N.E.2d at 1010. In light of all of the forgoing considerations, we conclude that the marital privilege is more limited than the privileges attaching to communications to attorneys, physicians, and clerics. The marital privilege prevents a court from requiring a spouse to testify as to confidential marital communications, but does not bar the spouse from testifying if the spouse chooses to do so.