Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Testifing

Weird question! The right not to testify is what you should concentrate on in your studies. Your statement that �you have the right not to testify� is partially incorrect. The Fifth Amendment states: �No person � shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself�.� As you can read, this applies to a person in a criminal case. This prohibition against compelled self-incrimination is not absolute. It is often circumvented by the prosecutor granting a witness immunity (if you plan to get into criminal law learn about the two types). I recently represented a witness who was compelled to testify before an investigating (state!) grand jury � you do not always have the right not to testify in that situation.

Unless a party desires your testimony you do not have a right to intervene in and offer testimony. Additionally, the testimony must meet the rules of evidence (relative, non-cumulative, etc) even if you are called as a witness. If a person desires to testify and neither side wants the testimony there is usually a very good reason.