Lakeside v. Oregon

The petitioner did not take the witness stand at his trial on a criminal charge in a state court. Over his objection the trial judge instructed the jury not to draw any adverse inference from the petitioner’s decision not to testify. The question before us is whether the giving of such an instruction over the defendant’s objection violated the Constitution.

I

The petitioner was brought to trial in an Oregon court on a charge of escape in the second degree.1 The evidence showed that he had been an inmate of the Multnomah County Correctional Institution, a minimum-security facility in Multnomah…