State v. Burns

Justice WALLACE, JR.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal, we must determine whether defendant was deprived of a fair trial when the trial court permitted a witness to express before the jury that he refused to answer specific questions. The Appellate Division concluded that although the witness’s refusal to testify was not based on a Fifth Amendment privilege, it was error to permit the witness to refuse to answer specific questions in front of the jury because that procedure improperly added critical weight to the State’s case. We disagree and reverse. We conclude that, faced…