Section 14.44 Husband-Wife Privilege

• Library: Evidence 2017

C. (§14.44) Husband-Wife Privilege

The traditional marital privilege forbidding testimony by one spouse against another during the existence of the marriage was eliminated entirely for civil cases when the Missouri legislature repealed § 491.020, RSMo, in 1986. Yet a trace of the marital privilege still exists in the criminal area:

1. No person shall be incompetent to testify as a witness in any criminal cause or prosecution by reason of being the person on trial or examination, or by reason of being the husband or wife of the accused, but any such facts may be shown for the purpose of affecting the credibility of such witness; provided, that no person on trial or examination, nor wife or husband of such person, shall be required to testify, but any such person may testify at his or her option either...