can any lawyers answer this?

Question

ok, my husband is involved in a huge homicide case, ( he didnt murder someone, but he was there) when this goes to trial, i am one of the witnesses, as i know what happened that night (by him telling me 5 months later) So im considered one of the MAIN, well someone told me that i CANNOT testify against him, because we are married, is this true? will everything that i have told them, be useless in his trial? I am also pending a charge ( i think the detectives were trying to scare me) i UNKNOWINGLY cleaned the apartment, where this murder occured, however it was already cleaned, i saw no blood (in the bathroom) we were told to throw away everything in the apt, my fingerprints and footprints (there was SOO much bleach being used by my husband on the floor that we tracked bleach onto the carpet and it was never changed) they are telling me that my DNA is at the crime scene, and if they wanted, they could charge me with something, my husband told them i had ABSOLUTELY no knowledge,can they?

if anyone can help, please IM me at mzgonzalez9 on yahoo mess.

Answer 1

Sounds like you are in deep doo-doo. You can not be forced to testify against your husband, but you do have questions that need to be answered for yourself. GET A LAWYER.

Answer 2

It depends on the state, or whether its a federal case. But the most common rules are as follows

In most states, you cannot be compelled to testify against him at all, but you can take the stand voluntarily. This is called "spousal adverse testimony privilege". It allows you to decide if you testify against him.

However, separate from that is "marital communications privilege", which allows either of you to prevent you from testifying about confidential communications made while you were married. That privilege can be asserted by either of you.

So even if you choose to take the stand, getting around adverse spousal privilege, he can still prevent you from revealing confidential communications.

The two privileges overlap, but they are not the same and they work differently. Laws also vary by state.

Answer 3

Do you have an attorney? Because it definitely sounds like you need one.

This website: http://definitions.uslegal.com/m/marital-privilege/ sums up marital privilege pretty well. But basically what it says is that you have the right (as the witnessing spouse) to not testify against your spouse. It also says that communications between spouses are usually assumed to have been confidential

Answer 4

You don't have to divulge private conversations between you and your husband if you choose to exercise the spousal privlege. It's to protect the private communications between husband and wife so to not jeopardize a marriage as long as one of the spouse's is not the victim. You can talk all you want but you can also choose not to. If he were beating you or you were the victim, you can not exercise that right. Here is a link for you to read about it in more detail.

Answer 5

You have nothing to fear. You don't have to be with or against nobody and you must say to the court only what you remember and not what the dedectives want you to say!