Griffin v. California
- Decided
- June 7, 1965
- Docket
- 202
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 4,088 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that a prosecutor’s comment on the defendant’s failure to testify violates the Fifth Amendment — Robert TURNER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Charles D. MARSHALL, Warden, Respondent-Appellee (1995)
- holding that a prosecutor’s direct reference to a criminal defendant’s failure to testify is a violation of the defendant’s Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination — Charles L. Lorraine v. Ralph Coyle, Warden (2002)
- holding that a criminal defendant must not pay any court-imposed price for the exercise of his right not to testify in his own defense — United States v. Luis A. Flores (2006)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first degree after a jury trial in a California court. He did not testify at the trial on the issue of guilt, though he did testify at the separate trial[1] on the issue of penalty. The trial court instructed the jury on the issue of guilt, stating [*610] that a defendant has a constitutional right not to testify. But it told the jury: [2]
“As to any evidence or facts against him which the defendant can reasonably be expected to deny or explain because of facts within his knowledge, if he does not testify or if, though he does testify, he fails to deny or explain such evidence, the jury may take that failure 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.”
Statutes cited
Cite this
Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965)Read the full opinion
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