Carter v. Kentucky

In this case a Kentucky criminal trial judge refused a defendant’s request to give the following jury instruction: “The [defendant] is not compelled to testify and the fact that he does not cannot be used as an inference of guilt and should not prejudice him in any way.” The Supreme Court of Kentucky found no error.1 We granted certiorari to consider the petitioner’s contention that a defendant, upon request, *290has a right to such an instruction under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. 449 U. S. 819.2

I

A

In the early morning of December 22, 1978, Officer Deborah Ellison of…