Opinion No. (2006)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General DANIEL G. STONE Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE MIKE KANALAKIS, SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY OF MONTEREY, has requested an opinion on the following questions: 1. Does the privilege for confidential marital communications apply when a married peace officer is being interrogated during a law enforcement agency's internal affairs investigation of alleged police misconduct involving the peace officer's spouse? 2. If a married peace officer asserts the privilege for confidential marital communications during an internal affairs interrogation and refuses a direct order to answer the investigator's questions, may the law enforcement agency take disciplinary action against the officer? 3. If a peace officer has disclosed marital communications during an internal affairs investigation in order to avoid disciplinary action, and use of the marital communications in the investigation results in disciplinary action being taken against the peace officer's spouse, who thereafter challenges the agency's action in an administrative or court proceeding wherein the peace officer witness refuses to testify against the spouse, may the law enforcement agency introduce the…