Should Defendants Testify in Self-Defense Cases? There's No Easy Answer.

U.S.|To attest oregon not? There are nary elemental answers for defendants successful self-defense cases.

By taking the witnesser stand, Kyle Rittenhouse could look jurors successful the eyes and effort to person them that helium was frightened for his beingness earlier helium changeable 3 men past summertime successful Kenosha, Wis. But doing truthful would besides unfastened himself up to a grilling by prosecutors, who are apt to impeach him of stirring up occupation and opening occurrence without tenable fearfulness that helium would beryllium killed oregon severely hurt.

Deciding whether to attest is 1 of the astir important decisions defendants make, possibly adjacent much truthful successful cases successful which the suspect is making a self-defense statement similar Mr. Rittenhouse’s, wherever the contented is not whether an enactment took spot but whether determination was a lawful crushed for it. Defendants are not required to testify, and jurors are told not to clasp it against them if they bash not.

“Putting the suspect connected the basal is ever rolling the dice,” said Christopher Slobogin, the manager of the Criminal Justice Program astatine Vanderbilt Law. “You ne'er cognize for definite what’s going to power the jury.”

Juliet Sorensen, a erstwhile national authoritative who present teaches instrumentality astatine Northwestern, said that a determination by Mr. Rittenhouse to attest could unfastened caller lines of questioning for prosecutors, including wherefore helium brought a limb downtown and his associations with antithetic groups.

“By the suspect climbing up determination connected the witnesser stand, helium exposes his communicative and each of its vulnerabilities to beryllium exploited — and perchance made hay of — connected cross-examination,” Ms. Sorensen said.

Defendants claiming self-defense successful different high-profile cases person taken differing approaches, with a premix of results.

George Zimmerman, who killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, successful Florida, did not testify astatine his 2013 proceedings and was acquitted. Jason Van Dyke, a erstwhile Chicago constabulary officer, told jurors that helium feared for his beingness erstwhile helium changeable Laquan McDonald portion connected work successful 2014; he was convicted of murder. And successful Tulsa, Okla., Betty Jo Shelby, a constabulary serviceman who fatally changeable Terence Crutcher, an unarmed man, was acquitted aft telling jurors successful 2017 that she fired retired of fear Mr. Crutcher mightiness person a gun.

In Kenosha, Mr. Slobogin said Mr. Rittenhouse’s determination to attest whitethorn person travel down to an appraisal of whether helium was likelier to link with jurors oregon wounded his ain case.

“If the idiosyncratic gets connected the basal and is humble and is articulate and tin explicit himself successful a mode that comes crossed arsenic genuine, that’s a plus,” Mr. Slobogin said. “But a batch of clip defendants volition get connected a basal and beryllium defensive.”