In criminal cases husband and wife shall be allowed, and, subject to the rules of evidence governing other witnesses, may be compelled to testify in behalf of each other, but neither shall be compelled, nor, without the consent of the other, allowed to be called as a witness against the other except in the case of a prosecution for an offense committed by one against the other, or against the child, grandchild, father, mother, sister or brother of either of them, or minor, as defined in §2-2-10 of this code, or any person deemed incompetent by mental disease, defect, or other disability. The failure of either husband or wife to testify, however, shall create no presumption against the accused, nor be the subject of any comment before the court or jury by anyone.
W. Va. Code § 57-3-3
Testimony of husband and wife in criminal cases
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case Trammel v. United States (1980)
Most recently applied in State v. Gutierrez (August 2019)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: West Virginia Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain West Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.