Trammel v. United States
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
United States v. Hailey held that its adverse spousal testimony privilege does not cover forfeiture discovery when the testimony cannot be used against the accused spouse in a later prosecution. The witness spouse's choice whether to testify in a criminal trial remains the federal rule. Two separate opinions could not be retrieved. The confirmed limit is listed below.
96 later cases cite Trammel v. United States; 96 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading; the progress bar above tracks how many have been read so far. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Trammel v. United States?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Limited
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The court confined Trammel's adverse spousal testimony privilege to testimony that could expose the accused spouse to criminal consequences, excluding forfeiture discovery aimed only at recovering assets.
United States v. Hailey · U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland · filed
Under Trammel, the witness-spouse holds the privilege and may “refuse to testify adversely” against the defendant-spouse in a criminal proceeding. Trammel, 445 U.S. at 53, 100 S.Ct. 906. The key dispute between the parties is whether a forfeiture proceeding is sufficiently “adverse” to allow a spouse to claim the privilege. ... Construing the adverse spousal testimony privilege strictly, a criminal forfeiture proceeding is sufficiently distinct from criminal conviction and imprisonment that the privilege does not apply when the only potential consequence is the recovery of forfeited assets.
Read the full opinion on CourtListener →
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