Burt v. New Jersey
Headline: Court refuses to review a case where a prosecutor urged jurors to infer guilt from a defendant’s silence, leaving a murder conviction intact and permitting silence-based arguments in this instance.
Holding: The Court refused to review the case, leaving the appeals court’s decision in place and allowing a prosecutor’s argument that a defendant’s silence implied guilt to stand in this prosecution.
- Leaves in place a conviction where silence was used against the defendant.
- Allows prosecutors to point out defendants did not volunteer information to police.
- Dissent warns this undermines protection against self-incrimination during police custody.
Summary
Background
A man convicted of murder said the shooting was accidental during a scuffle after the other person pointed a gun. Police later found him asleep in a tire store, charged him with breaking and entering, and did not ask about the killing. He did not volunteer information while in custody. At trial he testified and told the accidental-shooting story, but on cross-examination the prosecutor emphasized that he had not told police that story earlier. The defense asked the judge to tell the jury the defendant had no duty to volunteer such information; that request was denied. The District Court granted a federal habeas writ, the Court of Appeals reversed, and the Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Reasoning
The central question raised by the dissenting Justice was whether it is permissible to use a person’s silence while in police custody as evidence of guilt. The dissent cited prior rulings that forbid commenting on a defendant’s failure to testify and that protect custodial statements unless properly waived. The dissenting opinion argued this case is like those decisions because the defendant said nothing while in custody and that silence was later presented to the jury as evidence against him. The appeals court relied instead on a past decision allowing certain prior statements to be used to challenge a testifying defendant, but the dissent emphasized that here there were no prior statements—only silence.
Real world impact
By refusing to review, the Supreme Court left the lower-court result in place, so the prosecutor’s use of the defendant’s silence stood in this case. That outcome lets prosecutors highlight a suspect’s failure to volunteer information in similar cases and raises concerns about weakening the protection against self-incrimination. This was not a final Supreme Court ruling on the constitutional issue; the denial leaves the legal question unresolved at the national level.
Dissents or concurrances
The dissenting Justice, joined by two colleagues, urged the Court to grant review, warning that allowing silence to be used against defendants undermines constitutional protections affirmed in earlier cases.
Opinions in this case:
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