Ohio v. Matthew Reiner (532 U.S. 17)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 19, 2001 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 532 U.S. 17 · 121 S. Ct. 1252
- Decided
- March 19, 2001
- Term
- October Term 2000
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The Supreme Court of Ohio here held that a witness who denies all culpability does not have a valid Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Because our precedents dictate that the privilege protects the innocent as well as the guilty, and that the facts here are sufficient to sustain a claim of privilege, we grant the petition for certiorari and reverse. Respondent was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of his 2-month-old son Alex. The coroner testified at trial that Alex died from “shaken baby syndrome,” the result of child abuse. He estimated that Alex’s injury most likely occurred minutes before the child stopped breathing. Alex died two days later when he was removed from life support. Evidence produced at trial revealed that Alex had a broken rib and a broken leg at the time of his death. His twin brother Derek, who was also examined, had several broken ribs. Respondent had been alone with Alex for half an hour immediately before Alex stopped breathing. Respondent’s experts testified that Alex could have been injured several hours before his respiratory arrest. Alex was in the care of the family’s babysitter, Susan Batt, at that time. Batt had cared for the children during the day for about two weeks prior to Alex’s death. The defense theory was that Batt, not respondent, was the culpable party. Batt informed the…
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