People v. Hamacher

The majority today reaches the conclusion that the exceptions contained in MCL 600.2162; MSA 27A.2162 do not apply to communications between spouses.

Preservation of marital harmony becomes mere rubric where one spouse is willing to testify against another in the circumstances described in the statute. Worse, it is a cruel and demeaning fiction justified by no purpose other than to promote the interest of the adverse spouse and having no effect save, as in this case, to obstruct the fact-finding process and to remind us that even in 1989 we are all not equal before the law.

Revised Judicature…