Stewart v. United States

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides in unequivocal terms that no person may “be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” To protect this right Congress has declared that the failure of a defendant to testify in his own defense “shall not create any presumption against him.”1 Ordinarily, the effectuation of this protection is a relatively simple matter — if the defendant chooses not to take the stand, no comment or argument about his failure to testify is permitted.2 But where for any reason it becomes necessary to try a particular charge more…