Ohio v. Reiner
United States Supreme Court
532 U.S. 17 (2001)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Reiner (defendant) was charged with involuntary manslaughter related to the death of his infant son. Reiner claimed that the baby’s caregiver, Susan Batt, had caused the injury that resulted in the baby’s death. Prior to testifying at trial, Batt invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The trial court granted Batt immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. Reiner was convicted. The court of appeals reversed the conviction. The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the reversal, finding that the trial court’s grant of immunity to Batt was prejudicial to Reiner because the jury could infer that Batt did not cause the baby’s death. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.