Sinohui

California recognizes two marital privileges. First, a spouse may refuse to testify against the other spouse (spousal testimony privilege). (Evid. Code, § 970.) Second, a spouse may refuse to disclose or may prevent the other spouse from disclosing confidential communications between them during their marriage (marital communications privilege). (Evid. Code, § 980.) Despite recognizing these privileges, the Legislature has enacted numerous exceptions. (See Evid. Code, §§ 972, 985.) Today, we consider the scope of one of the exceptions common to both marital privileges in the context of the spousal testimony privilege.

In this case, defendant Robert Gene Sinohui contends the trial court erroneously compelled his wife to testify about his crimes against a third person pursuant to the exception to the spousal testimony privilege codified in Evidence Code section 972, subdivision (e)(2) (section 972(e)(2)). As relevant here, section 972(e)(2) precludes a wife from asserting the spousal testimony privilege in “[a] criminal proceeding in which” the husband “is charged with: [1] . . . [10 • • • [a] crime against the person or property of a third person committed in the course…