Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump showed up Wednesday for questioning under oath in New York's civil investigation into his business practices. But he quickly made clear he wouldn't be answering.
The ex-president issued a statement saying he had done nothing wrong but was invoking the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination. It's a constitutional right that gets high-profile exposure in settings from Congress to TV crime shows, but there are nuances. Here's what it means -- and doesn't -- to "plead (or `take') the Fifth."
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishes a number of rights related to legal proceedings, including that no one "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."
In the most direct sense, that means criminal defendants don't have to give damning testimony in their own cases. But it has come to apply in non-criminal contexts, too.
"It reflects many of our fundamental values and most noble aspirations," the Supreme Court wrote in 1964.
Among those ideals: preventing people from being tortured into confessing or being shoehorned into a "cruel trilemma of self-accusation, perjury or contempt" of court.
Many decades earlier, the court also questioned the reliability of confessions made under duress.
Over time, the Fifth Amendment's protections have been understood to cover witnesses -- not just defendants -- in criminal and civil courts and other government settings. The Supreme Court has even held that Fifth Amendment rights protected the jobs of public employees who were fired after refusing to testify in investigations unless they got immunity from prosecution.
The Fifth Amendment also underpins the famous Miranda warning about the right to remain silent and have an attorney on hand while being questioned in police custody.
Under what has become the legal standard, the witness has to be facing a genuine risk of criminal prosecution, said Paul Cassell, a criminal law professor at the University of Utah. That means prosecution on any charge in any U.S. court.
There are sometimes disputes over whether the right is being invoked inappropriately. The questioning side can ask a judge to declare that someone needs to answer or face contempt of court and possible penalties.
But "the courts have generally thought that they should give the benefit of the doubt to someone who might be criminally prosecuted, rather than force someone to testify and then learn: `Whoops!"' Cassell said.
Yes, it's not necessarily all-or-nothing. But even deciding to answer selectively could be risky: Responding to one question can enable the other side to argue that the witness can't refuse to answer other, related questions. Another concern: seemingly safe questions could be meant to build evidence about an allegation that's not on the witness' radar yet.
Legally, it depends. In a criminal case, prosecutors can't comment on a defendant's refusal to testify, and a jury can't be advised that it's OK to take defendants' silence as a sign of guilt. The Supreme Court has said that allowing that inference penalizes defendants for simply availing themselves of a constitutional protection.
But in civil cases, jurors generally are allowed to hold silence against a defendant or witness.
Then there's the court of public opinion.
"Does it look bad? In the general public's understanding, yes," says Howard University criminal law professor Lenese Herbert. "But that's just a result of poor civics education."
The former federal prosecutor often reminds her students that while jurors might want to hear a defendant's side of the story, it's a defense attorney's job to make sure the jury understands that the client has the right not to take the stand.
Indeed, his lawyers have already asserted that New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil inquiry is essentially a fact-finding mission for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's parallel criminal probe.
James has said her investigation found evidence that the businessman-turned-politician's company, called the Trump Organization, puffed up the value of real estate assets to snag loans, insurance and tax breaks for land donations. Trump has denied the allegations, and the Republican has slammed the investigation as a political "witch hunt" by Democratic officials.
Meanwhile, other fruits of James' probe led the DA's office to bring criminal tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization and its finance chief. The defendants have pleaded not guilty in that case, which involves claims of off-the-books compensation.
In the past, Trump has repeatedly suggested that only people with something to hide avail themselves of the protection against self-incrimination. He once declared that "the mob takes the Fifth."
But on Wednesday, he said he had no choice but to do so.
"I once asked, `If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?' Now I know the answer to that question," he said in his statement, calling the probe "a vindictive and self-serving fishing expedition."
"The United States Constitution exists for this very purpose, and I will utilize it to the fullest extent to defend myself against this malicious attack."
Trump lawyer Ronald Fischetti had said he'd advise Trump to take the Fifth unless given legal immunity for his answers, though Fischetti complained that publicity surrounding such a choice now could harm Trump's defense if there's a criminal charge down the road.
"How can I possibly pick a jury in that case?" Fischetti said in trying, unsuccessfully, to block Wednesday's testimony.
Three of Trump's adult children -- Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric -- have already been questioned. Eric Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times during his 2020 deposition, according to a court filing. Donald Jr. and Ivanka reportedly gave their depositions recently, and it's yet unclear whether they took the Fifth.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.