The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled prosecutors can call a death row inmate to testify at a hearing despite 5th Amendment protections that allow defendants to refuse to testify against themselves.
The state's highest criminal court ruled 8-1 Wednesday that prisoner Hector Medina can be put on the witness stand at an evidentiary hearing examining his claim that the legal help at his murder trial in Dallas was deficient.
According to court documents, prosecutors want to know if Medina knowingly agreed to his trial lawyers' strategy. They've given Medina immunity preventing them from using anything he says in future prosecutions.
Medina's appeals lawyers asked the appeals court to block any forced testimony.
Medina, from El Salvador, was condemned for killing his two small children in Irving in 2007.
