Kenneth Vercammen & Associates, P.C.
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Monday, July 30, 2007

State v. Ronald Burns

7-26-07 (A-27-06)

When faced with the difficult dilemma of handling a recalcitrant
witness who had no valid basis to refuse to testify, the trial
court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the prosecutor to
call a witness who declined to answer specific questions before
the jury. In addition, the trial court properly instructed the
jury not to consider the facts in the questions that the witness
declined to answer, and that any error not objected to in the
charge does not require reversal of defendant’s conviction.