If you're on trial for murder, the prosecution would never call on you to testify. Why would they? Of course you're going to claim that you didn't do it. Your testimony would be useless.
Murderers are tried with physical evidence linking them to the crime, and witness testimony from other people. Murderers don't even need to be present to be convicted; this happens sometimes if they're considered a danger in the courtroom, or have fled.
The comment I replied to disputed the general notion that courts need to be able to compel behavior.
From a quick search, it appears that a trial in the US cannot begin without the defendant present, although it may proceed if they leave afterwards depending on circumstances.
In the US, no. The 5th Amendment protects defendants from being coerced into self-incrimination. I was just pointing out how his comment really made no sense here at all, since this article isn't about a criminal being coerced into testifying against themselves (which again is illegal per the 5A), but rather a witness being coerced into testifying when they don't want to for some reason.
