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Pleading the Fifh
7 years ago
General
A lot of us toss around the phrase "I plead the fifth!" when we don't want to answer something. But how many of us actually know what it means?
Back when I worked at a legal transcription and videography firm, I once heard a deposed witness invoke his fifth amendment rights. And he used the whole phrase, "At this time I would like to invoke my fifth amendment rights on the grounds that further testimony may tend to incriminate me." Because that's basically what the fifth amendment is all about: you can not be forced to testify against yourself. You can't even be forced to indirectly testify against yourself, which is when it's usually used. If the public defender has you on the stand and wants to know where Joe was to establish his alibi in a defense against murder, but Joe was with you stealing cars... you could invoke the fifth since giving Joe an alibi would get you in hot water with the law.
What you can't do is try to invoke the fifth if you just don't want to answer the question. If someone asks me how much I paid for my computer case, I can't plead the fifth. The price I paid was high, but not criminal (ha ha). However, i was more in line with invoking the fifth amendment when my friend's wife was surprised how far he and I had gotten out of town and asked me how fast we were going on our motorcycles... because we were definitely exceeding the speed limit.
What made me think of this more recently was watching an episode of Law & Order. The witness on the stand tried to invoke his fifth amendment rights and Jack McCoy said, "You already have immunity; invoking your fifth amendment rights is meaningless." It took me a minute to process it, but Jack was correct. The point of the fifth amendment is to keep you from getting yourself in trouble, but if you've been given immunity, it means you can't be charged with anything no matter what you say. You can't hide behind the fifth amendment because you're already protected from prosecution.
So keep that in mind: if there are criminal things you did that you'd rather not mention, you may want to think twice about accepting that immunity deal... you will have to answer every question asked.
Back when I worked at a legal transcription and videography firm, I once heard a deposed witness invoke his fifth amendment rights. And he used the whole phrase, "At this time I would like to invoke my fifth amendment rights on the grounds that further testimony may tend to incriminate me." Because that's basically what the fifth amendment is all about: you can not be forced to testify against yourself. You can't even be forced to indirectly testify against yourself, which is when it's usually used. If the public defender has you on the stand and wants to know where Joe was to establish his alibi in a defense against murder, but Joe was with you stealing cars... you could invoke the fifth since giving Joe an alibi would get you in hot water with the law.
What you can't do is try to invoke the fifth if you just don't want to answer the question. If someone asks me how much I paid for my computer case, I can't plead the fifth. The price I paid was high, but not criminal (ha ha). However, i was more in line with invoking the fifth amendment when my friend's wife was surprised how far he and I had gotten out of town and asked me how fast we were going on our motorcycles... because we were definitely exceeding the speed limit.
What made me think of this more recently was watching an episode of Law & Order. The witness on the stand tried to invoke his fifth amendment rights and Jack McCoy said, "You already have immunity; invoking your fifth amendment rights is meaningless." It took me a minute to process it, but Jack was correct. The point of the fifth amendment is to keep you from getting yourself in trouble, but if you've been given immunity, it means you can't be charged with anything no matter what you say. You can't hide behind the fifth amendment because you're already protected from prosecution.
So keep that in mind: if there are criminal things you did that you'd rather not mention, you may want to think twice about accepting that immunity deal... you will have to answer every question asked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8otwr7ArmA