Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Parents testifying agaisnt children

California recognizes two privileges (1) confidential statements, and (2) right to refuse to testify.

Your question is directed to the right to refuse to testify. The right belongs to the witness spouse and not the other spouse. However, the prosecutor will attempt to get this testimony in by possibly having the investigator police officer or sheriff) testify to what the spouse said to them. So the trial attorney has to be prepared to object to this by doing some research on the privilege. If the spouse wants to testify, then the other spouse has left the privilege of confidential communication and has to prove that he/she has this privilege.

However, when I raised the marital privilege in a trial the judge overruled my objections to the investigator testifying as to the statements of the witness spouse.