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taking the Fifth

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taking the Fifth n. the refusal to testify on the ground that the testimony might tend to incriminate the witness in a crime, based on the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution which provides that "No person....shall be compelled to be a witness against himself," applied to state courts by the 14th Amendment. The term became famous during televised Senate committee hearings on organized crime in 1951, when a series of crime bosses "took the Fifth." (See: self-incrimination)



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Shepherd, 1,000-1 at the start of the tournament, briefly threatened to stem the tide by taking the fifth and seventh sets.
He was surely taking the fifth (or maybe something which just about rhymes with that).
Robert Baker, an attorney for Simpson, told the paper he expected there will be a hearing, especially if Fuhrman refuses to answer questions by taking the Fifth Amendment again.
 
 
 
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