On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Jessie Adan Morris <[email protected]> wrote: > And yet, how many bodies' locations are still unknown because > the perp hasn't stated where the body is? > > That sounds like pleading the 5th to me.
No, that's because you can't force anyone to give up information that they have. Not because of the 5th amendment, but because you can't control their mind. You can still hold them in contempt of court, or, if they have already been convicted, leave them in jail. They could also always claim that "I don't know where any body is.", or "I don't know of any passphrase to decrypt that data". None of these mean that they're pleading the 5th or that it's protected by 5th amendment rights. If we go back to the physical key analogy. The court can compel someone to give up the key to a safe. They can claim that they don't know where the key is, or that they don't have it. However they're not protected by their 5th amendment rights. They can be charged with pergery/obstructing of justice/withholding evidence (I'm not sure. I'm not a lawyer.) if they are found to have possession of the key. In contrast: If they don't confess to the crime or give testimony against themselves and are found to be guilty, or withholding information, they cannot be charged for any of these things, since they are protected from being compelled to do so by their 5th amendment rights. At least, that is how I see it. -John Shaver /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
