Today is the seventh anniversary of the end of the Kimberlin v. Walker, et al. trial. After The Dread Deadbeat Pro-Se Kimberlin rested his case, Judge Johnson ruled that he hadn’t really presented one because he didn’t bother to offer evidence that any of the statements my codefendants and I had made were false. The suit alleged defamation and false light, and both torts require that the allegedly offending statements be false. We were granted a judgment in our favor. Kimberlin lost.
Judge Johnson was inclined to allow Kimberlin to testify in spite of the then current ban on perjurers’ testimony in Maryland. Kimberlin dodge a perjury trap when we didn’t have to put on our defense. Before the trial resumed, I posted an explanation of what Kimberlin would face on the witness stand: Can #BrettKimberlin Measure Up to Midgett?
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It is possible that The Dread Pro-Se Kimberlin may be allowed to offer some testimony during the Kimberlin v. Walker, et al. trial.
TDPK has refused to answer the interrogatories that Aaron Walker, Stacy McCain, and I have sent him as a part of discovery in the Kimberlin v. Walker, et al. nuisance lawsuit. One of the reasons he initially cited was his Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination.
In Midgett v. State, 223 Md. 282 (1960), the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that there are limits to that privilege.
The bases for the rule are (i) that the witness has the right to determine whether or not to invoke the privilege, not that the rule is for the exclusion of unreliable evidence, and (ii) that the court must be in a position to determine whether the claim of privilege is in good faith or lacks any reasonable basis.
Id., 289. Thus, in order to invoke the privilege during the trial, TDPK will have to convince the judge that he will risk incriminating himself if he truthfully answers questions such as “How old was your wife when you married her?” or “If you have ever denied being sent back to prison for a parole violation in any court since January 1, 2010, explain the material circumstances for why you issued such a denial while under oath.”
Hmmmm.
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He came out ahead by coming up short.