Reply #177: If you read carefully, [View All]

[Ms. Toad]

I said nothing about presumption of guilt.

You asserted one could invoke the 5th merely avoid a fishing expedition. That is not correct, which I pointed out.

The Miranda warning ("anything you say can and will be used against you") is expressly limited to custodial interrogation in relation to a crime. Individuals in custody about to be interrogated in connection with a crime they are suspected of committing do have a general right to refuse to answer questions.

Individuals who are required by law (under subpoena in a deposition, at trial, etc.) to provide testimony outside of the criminal setting have no such general right to remain silent. The 5th amendment may be invoked by those individuals only with respect to specific questions, when the honest answer to that question would be self-incriminating (either in the instant matter - if that matter is criminal, or in relation to some other criminal matter, whether the individual has yet been charged with that matter or not).