• GCanuck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    369
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    “You’re in contempt of court. You have been fined $x and continued refusal to swear the oath will land you in prison until you do. Jackass.”

    That’s what the judge does.

    • Neato@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      53
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s really a process of letting the subpoenaed know that they either tell the truth, lie and face perjury charges, or refuse and face contempt or court charges. The latter can seemingly land you in jail in perpetuity. Because fuck you, I guess?

        • Neato@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          27
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          That’s mostly for police. Once you’re in court and ordered to testify, the person talking about germany is mostly correct. You can’t be forced to self-incriminate nor testify against a spouse. Otherwise yes. Generally 99% of courts won’t bother even asking the defendant to testify because self-incrimination is practically guaranteed. Usually only if the defense calls on them, which is often a bad idea.

        • lazyvar@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Only if there’s a risk at incriminating yourself, and if it’s not immediately apparent how you’d run that risk (e.g. you’re a witness that doesn’t have a direct relation to the crime at hand) you’d have to motivate how it could be incriminating.

      • WtfEvenIsExistence1️@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        64
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        You can’t be forced to testify against yourself, but you can be forced to testify against others.

        Exceptions are: Spouses can’t be forced to testify against each other. Parents can’t be forced to testify against their child and same thing vice versa.

          • WtfEvenIsExistence1️@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            They can, they’ll just have to find other evidence. If there’s a court case with the defendants being a married couple who both refuse to testify and there’s no other evidence, it’s essentially the same as a court case with one defendant that’s refusing to testify against themself and there’s no other evidence. Both cases will result in dismissal.

          • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            You still can’t use the 5th to infer anything about the defendant in a criminal case. In a civil case, the court can take a person’s refusal to answer into account.

            • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              1 year ago

              Some rulings that pleading the 5th can be considered cause for a warrant if not directly an admission of guilt.

              The past decade or so has also weakened rights in regards to you having to plead the 5th directly, and of course the “War on Terror” led to the Supreme Court more or less saying “No, actually, torture doesn’t count, plus we’re going to ignore that it’s been the official position of America for centuries that Constitutional rights are human rights (for a changing definition of human).”

              Taken as a whole the past couple decades have severely reduced the protections the government wants to admit the 5th offers.

      • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        You mean by a court subpoena? If so then you testify or get found in contempt of court.

        Or do you mean what if someone is threatened/blackmailed into giving false testimony? If that’s the case then you should probably go to the police. If it’s law enforcement who are coercing you then I suppose you could try to include that fact in the testimony, but there may not be much difference in that and refusing to comply with the blackmailer in the first place, in terms of your safety.

        If you’re coerced to lie under oath then I’d guess that still counts as perjury, but I doubt most judges would be mad at you for it; they’d shit fury all over whoever was coercing you.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        You speak to your lawyer ahead of time and they discuss the issue with the judge.

    • aoidenpa@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      If that’s the best the judge can do, I feel sorry for them. And I will leave it at that.

      • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        1 year ago

        IDK, imprisoning a person until they either comply or the trial concludes without them seems pretty good for the judge. Bad for the person subpoenaed, but it’s no skin of the judge’s back

    • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      How is it legal for them to just throw you in jail forever just for pissing off a judge? Why even pretend we have rights if that’s how the system is going to operate?

      • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        25
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Because other people have a right to a speedy trial as well, and if you’re intentionally holding up the court’s time they’re going to punish you.

        • RegularGoose@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          It’s illegal to lie to the court. Even if all oaths weren’t utterly worthless, one made under duress is inherently invalid. This one serves literally no purpose other than to psychologically dominate a person.

          • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            It’s just a more formal affirmation. Lots of people “promise” things they have no intention of really trying. It’s a grander gestire for grander consequences.

            • RegularGoose@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              No it isn’t. Oaths aren’t “grand gestures,” they’re just silly. This one is worse than silly; it’s the rough equivalent of a school bully putting you in a headlock and not letting you go until you agree to whatever bullshit he wants from you, and beating the shit out of you if you won’t.

              • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                It’s a “grander gesture” (quote me correctly pls) than an informal promise with a friend. Do you consider signing a lease or a mortgage to be the rough equivalent of a school bully putting you in a headlock?

                • RegularGoose@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  No, because I can refuse to sign the lease and I won’t get put in prison for that. Swearing a compulsory oath under threat of imprisonment in a sitiation you were forced to be in isn’t any kind if gesture, it’s just submission to coersion, nothing more, nothing less.

        • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That doesn’t give them the right to jail you indefinitely. This system lies and tells you we all have rights, but if they can just do that forever because you insulted or angered a judge, then you need to realize it is just a lie and we don’t have rights. It’s the same authoritarianism people fought and died to erase from the world. Judges can’t be allowed to just do what they want.

          • Jesse@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            By refusing to tell the truth to the court, you’re basically refusing to take part in the trial. Which translates to you’re refusing to take part in the justice system, yet also somehow wanting justice … ??

            • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              The thread is talking about a dude telling a joke. It’s obviously a joke. And you’re defending the possibility that a judge could have someone be jailed for years over it. That in the land of the free you can be tortured on the order of a psuedo king over a joke.

              No. Fuck that, and fuck you. There is nothing legitimate or defensible about that, goodbye.

          • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            They aren’t jailing you indefinitely just because you angered the judge. They might give you a few days if, again, you’re just being an asshole or wasting time.

            I’ve seen a lot of “Oh, judges can’t be trusted” since Trumps indictments have rolled out. I wonder why that is.

            • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              The conversation presupposes they will. Actually, that’s exactly what the others were saying. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, bro.

              The legal system simply is illegitimate, and the fact that can happen is one of the Mt. Everest high pile of reasons why

              • vivadanang@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                1 year ago

                the legal system fucks everyone, trumpies just don’t want it to fuck their guy. It’s like, welcome to the party guys lol.