Is a defendant's right to be free of adverse inferences from his failure to testify in a flight instruction?

California, United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Vargas, 126 Cal.Rptr. 88, 53 Cal.App.3d 516 (Cal. App. 1975):

14] Defendant asserts that the instruction violated the defendant's right to be free of adverse inferences from his failure to testify. Griffin v. California (1965), 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106, fails to distinguish between the defendant's privilege against self-incrimination which is protected under the Griffin rule, and his right, and normally exercised privilege, to be present at trial with counsel and confront the witness against him. The flight instruction only permitted an inference to be drawn from the defendant's failure to be physically present. The jury [53 Cal.App.3d 531] were expressly instructed not to consider or draw any inferences from his failure to testify. ⁵

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Is a defendant's right to be free of adverse inferences from his failure to testify in a flight instruction?

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