Does a court have a duty to admonish all witnesses or persons before the court concerning the privilege against self-incrimination?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Berry, 230 Cal.App.3d 1449, 281 Cal.Rptr. 543 (Cal. App. 1991):

None of the cases cited by the parties, nor any we have reviewed, requires a court to admonish all witnesses or persons appearing before the court concerning the privilege against self-incrimination. The cases discussing such a duty on the part of the trial court have all involved situations where something in the circumstances of the hearing put the judge on notice of the possibility of self-incrimination, e.g., persons identified as coconspirators or perpetrators of some specific crime. (See, e.g., People v. Warren, supra, 161 Cal.App.3d 961, 972, 207 Cal.Rptr. 912.) Moreover, no case brought to our attention has applied a rule of exclusion against the later use of such testimony as is currently being urged by Berry with respect to his perjury trial.

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