State v. Savage

It is a well-known rule that a spouse may not testify against the other spouse at a criminal trial. Evid. R. 501 provides for application of statutorily defined privileges, one of which is the privilege to exclude communications or acts made by a husband or wife in the other’s presence. R.C. 2317.02(D). The privilege is held by the non-testifying spouse and may be applied to bar testimony of such communications or acts so long as they were not made “in the known presence” of another. In addition, Evid. R. 601 provides: “Every person is competent to be a witness except: * * * (B) A spouse…