Does Court's Failure to Advise Defendant's Wife of Right Not To Testify at Husband's Trial Require a New Trial?

Or Must Appeals Court Find Wife's Testimony 'Changed Outcome' of Trial

State of Ohio v. William N. Davis, Case no. 2009-2208

8th District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County)

ISSUE: When a trial court fails to make a required determination that the wife of a criminal defendant called as a state witness at the trial of her husband understands her right to decline to testify, and the defendant does not enter an objection to the wife's testimony, is an appellate court that later notices the trial court's error required to automatically reverse the defendant's convictions as "plain error" and order a new trial, or may the court of appeals order a new trial only if it makes a specific finding that, but for the wife's testimony, the outcome of the trial would have been different?