What happens if you don't swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in court?
uhhh.....wow good question
In court: "do you swear to tell the truth...." "nope"?
*A 1961 U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteed oath-takers the freedom to conscientiously object to religion or the swearing of oaths. It's unconstitutional for the courts to require an oath to God, but you are required to at least affirm that you will tell the truth. The most important criteria in administering the oath is to prevent loopholes that would allow false testimony. Refusing to follow the proper protocol of the court can lead to jail time for showing disrespect for the order of the court - in other words, held in contempt of court. By the way, refusal to affirm to tell the truth (affirmation of office) can bar you from government employment. Refusal to take take the oath or to affirm is considered equivalent to refusal to take office. I hope this helps. Thanks for an interesting Q! Good Luck!
What happens if you say no when swearing into court?
If you are compelled to testify via a subpoena then it would be contempt of court for violating a court order. It is not an agreement so I'm not sure what you mean by invalidated via coercion? Plus coercion usually involves threats of physical harm. Jail is not physical harm. It just really sucks to go to jail. All that being said, if you refuse to testify because maybe it would cause you to incriminate yourself, then you would just plead the 5th. And unless they give you transactional immunity, you don't have to testify about anything self incriminating, but I don't see why you can't tell the truth about things if it wouldn't incriminate you? EDIT: coercion, "In many states of the United States, statutes declare a person guilty of a misdemeanor if he, by violence or injury to another's person, family, or property, or by depriving him of his clothing or any tool or implement, or by intimidating him with threat of force, compels that other to perform some act that the other is not legally bound to perform." Notice the last sentence says perform some act that the other is not "legally bound to perform." Obviously a court ordered subpoena is something you are "legally bound to perform."