Plead the Fifth
I had received notice that I needed to be down to the court before the trial for a hearing. I was a witness for the prosecution, the State of Maryland. I didn’t really understand why, I just knew I had to be there. I had no knowledge of what was going on for the prosecution or the defense. I had not spoken to Brandon Holbrook since he was taken into custody.
Right after Joe had passed I had retained a criminal attorney based on the recommendation of my divorce attorney. I didn’t ever really need him, but it felt like protection for me when I did not know what was going on, I was extremely traumatized, and scared. I only spoke with that criminal attorney twice and on one of those times he said, “It’s clear you are not a suspect.”
As I was driving into Calvert County the morning of the hearing , I received a phone call from Michael Ott, an attorney who worked in the law firm that I had hired in 2023. I had never talked to him or met him before. Apparently they had received notice about the hearing since they were listed as being retained by me. And the one thing I have noticed about lawyers in and out of court, is that they are so busy and sometimes wait to deal with stuff only when it becomes timely.
He explained to me that the prosecution was afraid I was going to plead the fifth at the trial and they did not want me to have fifth amendment protection. They wanted me to speak. In order to have fifth amendment protection, a judge must grant it. And this is what this hearing was about. I had no clue. Immediately, I was happy to have an attorney with me, because I absolutely did not know what I was walking into.
All of my family and friends were with me and we learned about why my defense attorney absolutely wanted Fifth Amendment protection, and was going to advocate for it.
He said we know you didn’t have anything to do with this, but why would we open the door for one side or the other to twist your words for their purposes? Why would we even open that door when we should not have to? We did not know what either side was doing, saying, evidence, and so forth. And it was very clear that my words and intent could be misconstrued….look at 48 Hours, am I right? That is what Fifth Amendment protection is there for. Any good attorney would advocate for it in this situation.
In the courtroom the DA and assistant DA for Calvert County, clearly stated that I had nothing to do with this. The only connection I had with the case is that I knew both men. They wanted me to talk. The Defense attorney for Brandon, wanted me to have the protection. Because then they could say…see! She has something to do with this, she won’t talk.
The judge ruled that I DID NOT have fifth amendment protection since I had no connection to the crime. Therefore, I could not invoke it. So I’d have to talk as a witness. I felt ok with this, because I had always planned to and I did not know anything about anything.
LATER THE NEXT DAY
The prosecution decided that they didn’t want me to talk after all and asked the judge to allow me to have the protection. Maybe they didn’t want the Defense to be able to twist anything at all, maybe it wasn’t worth the chance.
