Carter v. Kentucky[1][2] was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that trial judges in criminal proceedings must, upon proper request of the defendant, inform the jury of his right against self-incrimination, and that its execution may not be used against him.On Friday morning, December 22, 1978, while it was still dark, Officer Deborah Ellison of the Hopkinsville Police Department in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, noticed something strange in the alley between Young's Hardware Store and Edna's Furniture Store.

Carter's counsel requested at trial that the jury be given the following instruction: "The [defendant] is not compelled to testify and the fact that he does not cannot be used as an inference of guilt and should not prejudice him in any way."

The Supreme Court of the State of Kentucky argued two things: 1) There is no case law within the jurisdiction supporting the idea that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process rights included a right to have the Jury be informed of the privilege against self-incrimination; and 2) The Judge would have had to comment upon the defendant's failure to testify, violating Kentucky Revised Statute 421.225.

The court additionally held in Griffin v. California[9] that the right to remain silent may not be used as evidence against one's self and that a Judge may not make that presumption to the Jury.

The Court held in Lakeside v. Oregon that a Judge may choose to give the Jury instruction at question in this case even with the objection of the defense counsel.

Accordingly, we hold that a state trial judge has the constitutional obligation, upon proper request, to minimize the danger that the jury will give evidentiary weight to a defendant's failure to testify."