GRIFFIN v CALIFORNIA 380 U S 609 1965
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GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA 380 U. S. 609 (1965) Case Brief Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • PURPOSE: Case illustrates privilege against self-incrimination. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • CAUSE OF ACTION: First-degree murder. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • FACTS: Griffin was tried for murder, but refused to take the witness stand. Judge instructed jury: “. . . the jury may take that failure [to testify] into consideration as tending to indicate the truth of such evidence and as indicating that among the inferences that may be reasonably drawn therefrom those unfavorable to the defendant are the more probable. . ” The prosecutor also commented extensively on defendant’s refusal to testify. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • ISSUE: Whether the comment on defendant’s refusal to testify, approved by rule in California, violates the Fifth Amendment as applied to the state through the Fourteenth Amendment. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • HOLDING: Yes, it violates the Fifth Amendment. Reversed. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • REASONING: What the jury may infer, given no help from the court, is one thing. What it may infer when the court solemnizes the silence of the accused into evidence against him is quite another. The right against self-incrimination of the Fifth Amendment is zealously guarded. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
GRIFFIN v. CALIFORNIA • DISSENT: The issue should be whether the defendant was “compelled” to testify against himself, which he was not. Copyright 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.
