U.S. v. Caira

In prosecution on conspiracy to commit murder charge, Dist. Ct. did not violate defendant’s Fifth Amendment right not to be compelled to testify against himself, even though Dist. Ct. found that defendant could not call his former attorney to testify as to defendant’s reaction to text message that individual, whom defendant had allegedly recruited to kill Assistant U.S. Attorney, had sent to defendant without defendant taking witness stand. While Dist. Ct. erred in requiring defendant to take witness stand as condition for admission of former attorney’s testimony, since such testimony was admissible without defendant’s testimony under state-of-mind exception to hearsay rule, fact that defendant eventually testified did not constitute Fifth Amendment violation, where defendant could have stood on his right not to testify and sought appellate correction of said evidentiary ruling. Moreover, defendant’s testimony was otherwise voluntary since defendant only briefly mentioned his conversation with his former attorney and used opportunity to bolster his version of other facts in case.