What is the legal basis for refusing to answer a prosecutor's question?

advice and refusing to answer, defendant apparently decided that there was more utility in keeping out of the record his response to the prosecutor's question than there was in having the court consider his hearing testimony up to that point. Defendant's tactical decision did not exempt him from cross-examination. (Cf. People v. Reynolds, supra , 152 Cal.App.3d at p. 46, 199 Cal.Rptr. 379 [defendant's fear of attack by prison inmates for being a "snitch" were he to answer the prosecutor's question, although not baseless, did not constitute a legal exemption from cross-examination].)