Possibly the brother could refuse to testify, citing his 5th amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The prosecutor could get him to testify only by offering him immunity. Then he can testify as to the truth, whatever that is. If there is no testimony she did the stabbing, that could result in a directed verdict of not guilty from the judge, or a not guilty from the jury. If someone takes a knife from my kitchen drawer and kills someone with it, the fact that my prints are on the knife does not make me guilty of the stabbing. However, if the brother made "excited utterances" about the cause of the injury, those out of court statements would be admissible into evidence at a trial, with testimony from the people who heard him make the statements. Whether something qualifies as excited utterance is a question of law that is highly dependent on the testimony,. If she does not want to claim incompetence or insanity, you cannot make her claim it. The attorney theoretically could ask for a competency exam, and the judge might grant it. Competency to stand trial is decided by the judge. Legal insanity (which almost never wins) is decided by a jury.
Answered on Sep 27th, 2016 at 11:45 AM