Courts

That's Not How Pleading The Fifth Works

Silly reason to go to jail.

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lawyer facepalmHistorical ordering aside, the Fifth Amendment is easily one of the top 10 amendments to the Constitution — so good, in fact, that it inspired one of the best court sketch comedy bits.  One of the many things it affords is the right against self-incrimination: no person can be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against themselves. That said, the provision only activates when there’s a consequence to being your own star witness. Once that worry gets waived, throwing up the Fifth is an easy way to get thrown behind bars for not listening. From AJC:

A major witness in the state’s case against Atlanta-rapper Young Thug and five of his alleged associates was taken into custody after Judge Ural Glanville held him in contempt of court for refusing to testify.

Kenneth Copeland, also known as Lil Woody, was subpoenaed to testify Friday morning. Before the jury was brought out, Copeland’s attorney John Melnick told Glanville that Copeland did not wish to cooperate or testify and planned to exercise his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
…
“Mr. Copeland, given the fact you have invoked your Fifth Amendment privilege but the state has already given you immunity…this court holds you in willful contempt and we’ll see you on Monday,” [Judge] Glanville told Copeland.

You can see the interaction for yourself here:

If you’ve been following the YSL RICO trial, you know that this thing has been shenanigans heavy since the start. Surprisingly enough, the short stint behind bars sufficed to get Copeland with the program:

Things seem to be normal for now but, given this trial’s history, something else will go wrong within the next appearance or two.

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Young Thug trial: State Witness Held In Contempt, Taken Into Custody [AJC]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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