Brooks v. Tennessee

Brooks v. Tennessee
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 7, 1972
Full case name	Brooks v. Tennessee
Citations	406 U.S. 605 ( more )
Holding
A criminal defendant cannot be forced by law to testify before all other witnesses.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William O. Douglas  · William J. Brennan Jr. Potter Stewart  · Byron White Thurgood Marshall  · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr.  · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan
Concurrence	Stewart (in judgment)
Dissent	Burger, joined by Blackmun, Rehnquist
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Blackmun

Brooks v. Tennessee, 406 U.S. 605(1972), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a criminal defendant cannot be forced by law to testify before all other witnesses. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Brooks was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, Tennessee, on charges of armed robbery and unlawful possession of a pistol. During the trial, at the close of the State's case, defense counsel moved to delay petitioner's testimony until after other defense witnesses had testified. The trial court denied this motion on the basis of Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-2403 (1955), which required that a criminal defendant "desiring to testify shall do so before any other testimony for the defense is heard by the court trying the case." Although the prosecutor agreed to waive the statute, the trial court refused, stating that "the law is, as you know it to be, that, if a defendant testifies, he has to testify first." The defense called two witnesses, but petitioner himself did not take the stand. ^[1]

Following the denial of his motion for new trial, petitioner appealed his conviction to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, which overruled his assignments of error, including his claim that § 40-2403 violated the State and United States Constitutions. The Supreme Court of Tennessee denied review. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether the requirement that a defendant testify first violated the Federal Constitution. ^[1]

Opinion of the court

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on June 7, 1972. ^[1] The court said that a criminal defendant cannot be forced to testify before all other witnesses. To do so is a violation of the right to be silent (by forcing a choice of whether to testify at an inopportune time) and the right to counsel (by forcing a decision of whether to testify without full understanding of the evidence against them). ^[2]

References

1. Brooks v. Tennessee, 406 U.S. 605 (1972).
2. Ronald Jay Allen, et al, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication and the Right to Counsel 1377 (3d ed. 2016).

External links

• Text of Brooks v. Tennessee, 406 U.S. 605(1972) is available from: Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain .