Pleading The 5th: Criminal VS Civil

Pleading The 5th: Criminal VS Civil #lawyer #amendment #criminal #civil #personalinjurylawyer

[TRDify]

It always shocks me how many people don’t know the difference between civil and criminal. Thank you Mike!

[bigfanpics]

If it's a criminal case in court, then they've already been charged with a crime. It may help them prevent being convicted of that crime, though.

[lauraparrillo]

Can you explain more in depth how pleading the fifth is helpful in criminal cases then? If what you’re saying in this video is true for civil cases, how would it not be the same in any other case?

[ByronWrightJr]

For those who don’t know, a criminal case is when it is the government against a person. For instance, The State of Texas vs John Thornton.
A civil case is a case involving people, businesses or agencies. For instance, John Thornton vs State Farm Insurance.

[Alexonthetube]

In criminal cases, if a lawyer brings up that the defendant pleaded the 5th that’s ground for mistrial.
In civil cases, if a lawyer brings up that the defendant pleaded the fifth that’s ground for a round of beers after

[Karma.Speaks]

omg, the info is great — and I REALLY like the tie!

[Death_Shambles]

As I understand it, it's all based on the level at which they have to prove your guilt. In civil cases it's by a preponderance of evidence, while criminal requires beyond a reasonable doubt. So if you're pleading the 5th in civil court, it's assumed you're guilty to at least something incriminating and they can assume to a degree. This leads to needing that "more than likely" idea of you did it or simple put, preponderance. Hope this helped and was accurate

[brookepearson]

Could you talk more about what the difference between a civil and criminal case is? (and other types of cases of they exist)

[Cardsandstoagies]

A preponderance of evidence vs beyond a reasonable doubt is the key difference here. The level of scrutiny when freedom or money is on the line is way different.

[JibeddyHibeddy]

Assuming there’s both a civil and criminal case against you, wouldn’t taking the 5th in the civil case be advisable to protect you in the criminal case? Even though it may be harmful to the civil case itself.

[valfreyaaurora]

But they can use the court record of the civil trial as evidence in the criminal trial so even tho it hurts in the civil - if there is a chance of a criminal take the 5th

[cgi]

Is this less effective if they have already had a criminal trial and been found not guilty (lack of evidence, plead the 5th), since double jeopardy laws would mean they can't be retried so they don't need to worry about self incrimination so they don't need to plead the 5th.

[kbns]

What would you recommend instead of pleading the fifth in civil cases then?

[mentaya]

Had a weird one. First (and so far only) time on a jury and it was a domestic dispute determining whether either or both parents were suitable to keep their children. It was...messy. But the mom was by far the scarier of the two. Several jurors, including myself were scared she was going to have someone follow us home, which was not quite as paranoid as it sounds. Anyway, that's for scope. The husband had a follow-up trial after the one we were in to determine his possible culpability to an assault with a firearm that took the wifes' leg. Because a *lot* of the wifes' lawyers' questions involved that incident (for obvious reasons), the husband pled the 5th like...50 times in a row. It was weird because we weren't allowed to form any conclusion about the husbands' guilt in the shooting from the pleading the 5th, but we *were* about his suitability as a parent, as one touched on criminal and the other didn't.

[Void-wmhh]

Won’t the judge instruct that the person being however examined can’t take the 5th in a civil case…

[Zelmel]

Presumably if you're also on trial for a criminal case you would need to do it in both so the civil case wouldn't give evidence for the criminal.

[wafflehat]

Attorney asks a question, person pleads the fifth, attorney looks over at the jury with a 'you know what that means' sort of face

[Dandosa]

Now while I agree with you on part of this… pleading the fifth should not be seen as admitting guilt. I agree that some people see it that way and it’s unfortunate, but it shouldn’t be seen as a way for a defendant to admit guilt without admitting guilt… and it sucks that it isn’t seen that way by a jury.

[cgwworldministries]

And even in criminal cases pleading the 5th only helps during questioning. Once you get to court it can harm your case.

[genmasj]

If you had concurrent trials (criminal and civil) wouldn't you not taking the 5th then be potential evidence in your criminal trial?