Court Opinion

ID: 9612208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:06:00.310369+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:02.957104
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
Dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion because the legal principle asserted in Clayton v. Commonwealth, Ky., 786 S.W.2d 866 (1990), that “Neither the prosecution nor the defense may call a witness knowing that the witness will assert a Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination” absolutely controls this situation.
The learned legal essay presented by the majority relies on a decision by a panel of the Court of Appeals in Commonwealth v. Gettys, Ky.App., 610 S.W.2d 899 (1981) and federal court decisions. Here, the claim of privilege was not too remote or speculative as in Gettys, supra.
The majority acknowledges that the federal courts have addressed analogous issues in three different contexts. However, the noble efforts to avoid the application of Clayton, supra, are unavailing. The Kentucky case controls and should be followed. The trial judge correctly ruled that the witness could either take the stand and testify fully or refuse to testify on Fifth Amendment grounds. As correctly noted by the trial judge, there is no federal constitutional right to call a witness whom counsel knows will exercise her Fifth Amendment privilege. See United States v. Crawford, 707 F.2d 447 (10th Cir.1983).
A criminal defendant has the right under the Sixth Amendment to subpoena witnesses to testify in his behalf. However, the Sixth Amendment to the federal constitution involves a right to confrontation which must yield when a witness properly asserts his own Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The right to impeach a witness through vigorous cross-examination is subordinate to a properly presented Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. See Alford v. United States, 282 U.S. 687, 51 S.Ct. 218, 75 L.Ed. 624 (1931). The Fifth Amendment is superior to the Sixth, that is why it is Fifth and not Sixth or later. The Bill of Rights is a carefully conceived legal document and the priority of position should not be ignored. An extended discussion of the right against self-incrimination by witnesses may be found in 81 Am.Jur.2d Witnesses §§ 87, 88.
Here, the defendant did not have the right to call a witness who would selectively determine which questions she would answer and which questions she would not answer. Such a situation would deprive the Commonwealth of the ability to effectively cross-examine such a witness. It is obvious that in such a condition the witness would be able to testify favorably regarding matters helping the defendant but could refuse to testify regarding matters unfavorable to the defense. Thus, both federal and state courts have ruled that such a witness may not testify, and accordingly, the trial judge here correctly refused to allow the witness to testify. *748The trial judge and this panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals was correct when it affirmed her ruling. Clayton controls and should be followed.