Decision
The court held that a guilty plea is not also a waiver of the privilege at sentencing. It also held that the trial court may not draw adverse inference by the defendant's silence while facts bearing upon the severity of the sentence are considered. Any inference of the defendant's silence advocates that a court's ruling can be made on assumption. The court's decision supported that a ruling should be made based on facts. In addition, had the court allowed for an inference to be made from silence, suspicions would then inherently supersede and contradict the principle that defendants are innocent until proven guilty.
Read more about this topic: Mitchell V. United States
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