Criminal Law
The legislation’s development of a certain country is bound up with the development of its national system and society order. The legal system in the United States closely follows the national system of government. Every state along with its government’s order has a State Constitution which in some cases dissents from the Constitution of the United States and gives grounds for additional, unnecessary and expensive trials. Such is the case Griffin v. California (1965) in which the difference between the two Constitutions (Federal and Californian) caused an additional trial of the Supreme Court of the United States to decide the case. The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court on the basis that his constitutional rights based on the Fifth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution were violated. According to the Fifth Amendment a citizen should be “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” (The Constitution of the United States, Fifth Amendment). The ground of Griffin’s contention was the judge’s instruction to the jury to consider his silence and refusal to explain the evidence as a prerequisite of guilt. The California Constitution allows the instructions to the jury and does not consider them as a malpractice.
The discussed phenomenon may be considered in the light of the principle of subordination. The Constitution of the United States has a supreme power that integrates the main principles and decrees for the whole country. It outlines the fields and the limits of the separate State’s legislation that should be based on its principles and spirit.
The evidence presented during the Griffin’s trial in the Californian court where Griffin was sentenced to first degree murder did not show in indisputable way the degree of Griffin’s culpability. The background of the case itself was ordinary and typical for cases of sexual insult followed by murder. Eduard Griffin was invited by Essie Mae Hodson in the apartment that she shared with her boyfriend Eddie Seay. Later, after he had gone to bed, Eddie was awakened by strong noise and he saw Hodson and Griffin struggling. Hodson explained that Griffin forced her to have sex. Eddie managed to lock Griffin outside the door of the apartment but the last broke in and stroke Eddie. While Eddie went to a bar for help and came back they were disappeared. A witness saw Griffin in the next morning coming out from a big thrash box that was located in about three hundred feet away from the apartment where Hodson and Eddie Seay lived, buttoning up his trousers. The witness looked into the box and found Hodson all in blood, injured and shocked. The next day she died from her wounds at the hospital. Griffin refused to testify during the trial and he did not explain what exactly happened. Essie Mae Hodson was dead and she could not tell her version of the story.
The judge instructed the jury that the defendant had the right not to testify and remain silent and that this did not make a presumption of guilt but “the jury may take that failure (of explanation) into consideration as tending to indicate the truth of such evidence” (Griffin v. California, 1965).
That instruction of the judge to the jury did not contradict the Constitution of California but definitely violated the rights of the defendant, given him by the Fifth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution that states that no citizen “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” (U. S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment).
The Supreme Court of the United States held that the defendant’s silence must be disregarded by the jury.
The case awoke many disputes among the American magistrates. As always, some showed concurrence while some dissented. When the justice is done, regardless of whether the verdict is guilty or not guilty, the only winner is the government.
Reference
The Constitution of the United States, Fifth Amendment, Web
Griffin v. California, 380 U. S. 609 (1965)
