Does a defendant have Fifth Amendment privilege to display his tattoos?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Russell, F063101 (Cal. App. 2013):

display of his own tattoos does not implicate Fifth Amendment privileges. "[T]he desire of the defendant to show a scar, tattoo, gold tooth or other relevant physical characteristic without accompanying testimony (or concomitant cross examination) is merely the other side of the coin to the prosecution's right in both federal and California state courts to compel the relevant exhibition of such a physical characteristic without impinging a defendant's privilege against self-incrimination." (People v. Perez (1989) 216 Cal.App.3d 1346, 1352.)

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