Anyone who’s more than a casual enjoyer of Law & Order reruns is probably familiar with the idea of spousal privilege — a rule following in the vein of things like doctor-patient privilege that affects the ability of spouses to testify against each other or be called as witness. Well, you’re not going to believe this, but it’s a little more complicated than Dick Wolf made it out to be. A lawyer on Reddit delved a little further, and it turns out there’s some highly specific details.
The quick-and-dirty version most people know is: Someone cannot be forced to testify against their spouse. Usually followed by a tearful session of hardball interrogation wherein the spouse in question is convinced to turn on their partner. While this does exist relating to testifying about something they saw you do, if we’re instead talking about a crime you confessed to them, there’s one extra, important bit: You can also forbid them from testifying, even if you’re no longer married. You could have gotten home one night during your marriage, sauced off too many martinis and confessed to a massive Ponzi scheme, but even after a divorce, the partner you told that to can never testify about it in court without you giving the all-clear, which, well… you probably wouldn’t.
It can also change depending on state law, and again, this stuff is complicated, but this is at least how it seems to work in California.