The privilege against adverse spousal testimony, or the marital testimony privilege, fosters or protects the harmony and sanctity of the marital relationship.

Parker v. Reda, 327 F.3d 211, 214-215 (2d Cir. 2003) (holding, in plaintiff inmate's action against defendant prison officers for damages, that the trial court properly allowed witness Sgt. Krusen to read the....Federal Rule of Evidence 803(5) or a comparable State rule creates a hearsay exception for a memorandum or record concerning a matter about which a witness once had knowledge but now has insufficient recollection to enable the witness to testify fully and accurately, shown to have been made or adopted by the witness when the matter was fresh in the witness' memory and to reflect that knowledge correctly.

Dixon v. United States, 548 U.S. 1, pin? (2006) (federal charges in federal district court trial: receiving a firearm while under indictment and making false statements to purchase firearm; held, jury instructions that put burden on defendant to show defense of duress by...In trials of some charges criminal defendants have the burden of proof on some affirmative defenses.

Cf. Johnson v. Norris, 537 F.3d 840, 845-847 (8th Cir. 2008) (habeas corpus review of murder conviction and death sentence; trial court rejected criminal defendant's attempt to elicit and offer evidence protected by a state's psychotherapist-patient privilege; defendant argued "that his rights...A nonconstitutional privilege sometimes must yield to a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine an adverse witness in a criminal trial. A nonconstitutional privilege privilege may have to yield to a criminal defendant's Confrontation Right when the privilege shields evidence or facts (particularly evidence or facts showing bias) that have significant probative value on the credibility of an adverse witness in a criminal trial who testifies about material facts in issue.