People v. Ali

Defendant was charged with direct criminal contempt for refusing to testify at a murder trial, and was convicted, after jury trial. Prosecutor was entitled to cast doubt on Defendant's necessity defense by noting that he raised only the 5th amendment in the murder trial. Thus, prosecutor's remark did not impinge on his privilege against self-incrimination. Prosecutor's remark did not imply that it was impossible to simultaneously fear both self-incrimination and retaliation, but asked jury to infer that, if Defendant truly feared retaliation, he would have found a way to alert the trial court or would have alerted the prosecution earlier. (BIRKETT and HUTCHINSON, concurring.)