Court Opinion

ID: 9559185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:24:03.006596+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:56.845428
License: Public Domain

*5MR. CHIEF JUSTICE PRINGLE
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
I think the rule in O’Chiato v. People, 73 Colo. 192, 214 P. 404, which the majority overrules today, is eminently correct. I believe that the right of the defendant to a trial by jury does include the right to have the jury present when questions are propounded to a witness which would in effect exonerate the defendant if answered as defendant fairly believes they would be answered, if the privilege were not exercised.
As pointed out in Wigmore on Evidence, § 2268 at 402, the privilege against self-incrimination is “an option of refusal, and not a prohibition of inquiry.” I would therefore, approve the ruling of the trial judge.