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A WITNESS IS NOT UNAVAILABLE TO TESTIFY AT A TRIAL BASED UPON THE FEAR OF COMMITTING PERJURY DURING THAT TRIAL; NEW TRIAL ORDERED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing the judgment and ordering a new trial, determined a witness was not be unavailable to testify at the trial based upon her fear she would commit perjury at the trial:

“A witness may not claim the privilege of the [F]ifth [A]mendment out of fear that he [or she] will be prosecuted for perjury for what he [or she] is about to say. The shield against self-incrimination in such a situation is to testify truthfully, not to refuse to testify on the basis that the witness may be prosecuted for a lie not yet told” … . “Fear of a perjury prosecution can typically form a valid basis for invoking the Fifth Amendment only where the risk of prosecution is for perjury in the witness’ past testimony” … .

“[T]he court focuses inquiry on what a truthful answer might disclose, rather than on what information is expected by the questioner” … . Simply put, the Fifth Amendment “does not permit a witness to invoke the privilege on the ground that he [or she] anticipates committing perjury sometime in the future” … . There is “no doctrine of ‘anticipatory perjury’ ” … . * * *

We … conclude that the court erred in declaring the victim unavailable and allowing her testimony from the first trial to be read to the jury at the retrial. Inasmuch as the victim was the only person who identified defendant as the person who shot her, we cannot conclude that the evidence of defendant’s guilt is overwhelming, and therefore the error cannot be deemed harmless … . People v Smith, 2024 NY Slip Op 03973, Fourth Dept 7-26-24

Practice Point: The Fifth Amendment does not permit a witness to invoke the self-incrimination privilege on the ground the witness anticipates committing perjury in the future.

 

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