Is the right to testify in a civil trial grounded in the Fifth Amendment or in the Sixth Amendment?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Johnson, 217 Cal.App.3d 978, 266 Cal.Rptr. 221 (Cal. App. 1990):

1 The right to testify is not rooted in the Fifth Amendment, but rather in the Sixth Amendment. People v. Hellgren (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 854, 857, 256 Cal.Rptr. 465, citing Taylor v. Illinois (1988) 484 U.S. 400, 108 S.Ct. 646, 98 L.Ed.2d 798, states: "The right to offer testimony is.... grounded in the Sixth Amendment even though it is not expressly described in so many words...." However, the right to offer testimony is not the equivalent of the right to offer one's own testimony. While the Sixth Amendment does reflect the right to offer evidence in one's own defense, there is some overlap. The Fifth Amendment more precisely focuses on the right of the accused to offer his or her own testimony or refrain from doing so.

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