State v. Wagner, ___ N.C. App. ___, 790 S.E.2d 575 (Sept. 6, 2016)

In this child sexual assault case, the court rejected the defendant’s argument that the defendant’s wife improperly testified as to the defendant’s exercise of his constitutional right to remain silent after arrest. The defendant pointed to the witness’s answer to a question about whether she ever talked to him about the allegations at issue. She responded: “I want to say that I did ask him what had happened, and he said that he couldn’t talk over the phone because it was being recorded.” Because the testimony at issue was from the defendant’s wife, not a law enforcement officer, and was given by her to explain whether she had ever discussed the allegations with the defendant, her statement that he had declined to discuss them over the phone due to a concern that the call was being recorded “cannot properly be characterized as a violation of his privilege against self-incrimination.”