Boston Lawyer BlogOld Wine in a New Bottle: Supreme Judicial Court Decision Reiterates Broad Scope of Fifth Amendment Protection
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) on Friday, October 10, 2014 decided Commonwealth v. Jason LeClair, No. SJC-11469, a Fifth Amendment case. It did not make new law but reiterated that the scope of the Fifth Amendment privilege is broad and liberally construed, something that many lawyers, including prosecutors, and many judges, including those in this case, do not seem to understand.
Sheehan was a witness in a domestic A&B case against LeClair, the defendant, and was called by the Commonwealth. He refused to answer questions by the defense about his consumption of drugs at the time of the incident, asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege. The prosecutor represented that the Commonwealth was not “interested” in prosecuting him and not “likely” to do so. On that basis the judge concluded that there was no substantial prospect that his answers could lead to his prosecution and ordered Sheehan to answer the questions. When he continued to refuse to answer, the judge found him in criminal contempt and sentenced him to a 90-day prison term. The sentence, and the trial, were suspended pending appeal. The SJC took the case on its own initiative.
