The Right To Remain Silent Has Limits
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Aaron Hernandez trial has played out like a bad episode of reality tv, with friends becoming enemies and lovers turning against one another. But, unlike so-called "reality" television where every character wants to shriek every nasty, cutting, horrible thought that comes to mind, in the Hernandez actual reality, Hernandez's fiancé fought for her right to remain silent.
Prosecutors gave Aaron Hernandez's fiance a hard choice - tell the court what you know or go to jail yourself. But as anyone who's ever watched any tv knows you can "plead the fifth". So what gives?
What gives is that in actual reality, the 5th Amendment, that right to remain silent we hear so much about, doesn't always give you the right to clam up.
Instead, the 5th Amendment says that you don't have to testify against YOURSELF in a court of law. You don't have to say anything that would incriminate YOU.
But, the prosecutors in Hernandez's case had already given immunity to his fiancé, so she wouldn't face prosecution and would, therefore, lose the ability to claim that what she said could be held against her. She learned the hard way a lesson most people don't realize: you don't have the right to remain silent. That's a harsh reality.