What Does it Mean to Plead the Fifth?
- Written By: Tricia Ellis-Christensen
- Edited By: O. Wallace
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- Last Modified Date: 15 March 2013
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"Pleading the fifth" is the label commonly used in the US legal sphere to describe the act of invoking the right against self-incrimination. The fifth, in this case, refers to the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which grants various rights to people, including the right not to testify against oneself in a trial. This amendment does not grant the right not to testify because doing so would incriminate another person.
Defendants and other witnesses in a criminal or civil trial may plead the fifth when testifying under oath and in a court or other tribunal. This right is available to US citizens as well as some other categories of people depending on a variety of factors, including place of residence and connection to the US. When a witness or defendant testifies under oath and doesn't want to answer a specific question because doing so might be incriminating, he or she might respond with "I plead the fifth" or "I take the fifth" or "I refuse to answer on the grounds that this may incriminate me."
While refusing to answer questions can be a stumbling block for prosecutors, there are some methods for getting around witnesses who want to use this tactic. One common approach is to offer the witness immunity. That is, prosecutors may promise not to prosecute a witness in exchange for his or her potentially incriminating testimony if it will help make the prosecution's case against the defendant. If the prosecutor isn't willing to grant immunity in exchange for the valuable testimony, either because the testimony isn't that damning or because the crime admitted to is too serious to not charge, a prosecutor may make a plea deal with the witness. In a plea deal, a prosecutor will promise to charge that witness on a lesser charge or recommend a lesser sentence in exchange for the testimony.
Regardless of the approach, if a prosecutor gets a witness on the stand, he or she must do so with the reasonable belief that the testimony being offered is true, otherwise the attorney can face charges, fines, and sanctions. These approaches are not always foolproof, however, and defense attorneys will often use information about these deals to attack the credibility of the witness' testimony.
The legal phrase "to plead the fifth" has also entered common vernacular. In a casual setting, people may say it when asked something because their answer might put them in a bad light or simply be something that they don't want to divulge.
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anon200934
Post 6 |
My personal understanding of invoking the fifth amendment is that the witness cannot be forced to provide an answer that could incriminate him or her in a separate criminal act. A witness is not on trial, and has not been charged with anything connected to the case at hand. However, certain answers could make that witness appear guilty of other crimes. In the rape case discussed earlier, the witness may invoke fifth amendment rights for any number of reason, not necessarily the specific crime of sexual penetration. If he has been called as a witness, he is only obligated to provide information related to the defendant's case, not necessarily any criminal acts he himself may have committed. The prosecution and the jury can infer guilt from his reluctance to provide a simple yes or no answer, but under the fifth amendment he cannot be compelled to provide prosecutors with a confession of other crimes not committed by the defendant himself. Again, a witness is not on trial, but he or she could unintentionally provide reasonable doubt or a confession if he or she is not advised of his or her fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination. |
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westernstar
Post 5 |
Okay, for a witness to plead the fifth when being asked "have you ever penetrated the victim" does that mean that the witness is basically guilty of penetrating the victim, since he didn't say no to such a simple question? The witness is telling me that he is innocent and that his lawyer told him to plead the fifth. My opinion is that with such a simple question, I think he should have said no if he was innocent. Can someone help me to understand this any better, or am I correct that more than likely he is guilty? -Kelly |
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anon117177
Post 4 |
Is it true that if a person is under oath and "pleads the fifth" in answer to a specific question, that person must then "plead the fifth" for all questions posed by the questioner? One of the online sites said that if one answer is given to a question, the protection of the Fifth Amendment is lost. I'd like to be clear on this. |
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anon112571
Post 3 |
Say I already gave the prosecutor info but now they are making me go to trial. can I plead the fifth? |
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Moldova
Post 2 |
Lavallaa- To answer your question, the defendant whether he remembers the incident or not is not obligated to incriminate himself.
He can plead the fifth and not have to reveal anything. It is the prosecutor that has to prove that he committed the infraction.
The defendant does not have to help the prosecutor by revealing information whether he has it or not. I hope that helps you. |
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lavallaa
Post 1 |
What if someone accused someone of something that they may be subpoenaed to court for and they don't remember the incident because they were intoxicated? What would someone need to do in this circumstance? |
