Witness immunity from prosecution occurs when a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

grants immunity to a

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

in exchange for testimony or production of other

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the prosecution may grant immunity in one of two forms. Transactional immunity, colloquially known as "blanket" or "total" immunity, completely protects the witness from future prosecution for crimes related to his or her testimony. Use and derivative use immunity prevents the prosecution only from using the witness's own testimony or any evidence derived from the testimony against the witness. However, if the prosecutor acquires evidence substantiating the crime independently of the witness's testimony, the witness may then be prosecuted. Prosecutors at the state level may offer a witness either transactional or use and derivative use immunity, but at the federal level, use and derivative use immunity is much more common. In the United States, Congress can also grant criminal immunity (at the Federal level) to witnesses in exchange for testifying.

Grand jury testimony in the United States

Witnesses compelled by subpoena to appear before a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a p ...

are entitled to receive immunity in exchange for their testimony. The grant of immunity impairs the witness's right to invoke the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as a legal basis for refusing to testify. Per , a witness who has been granted immunity but refuses to offer testimony to a federal grand jury may be held in contempt. In addition, grand jury witnesses may be prosecuted for perjury or

making false statements Making false statements () is the common name for the United States federal process crime laid out in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, ...

in their testimony. In '' Kastigar v. United States'', 406 U.S. 441 (1972), the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

confronted the issue of the type of immunity, use or transactional, constitutionally required to compel testimony. The Court ruled that the grant of use and derivative use immunity is sufficient. Despite ''Kastigar'', the type of immunity required to compel testimony depends on the law of the applicable jurisdiction. Many states, such as New York, exceed the requirements of the US Constitution by requiring transactional immunity to be accorded to compelled witnesses. In states in which defendants have a right to testify on their own behalf at a grand jury proceeding, waiver of immunity is a condition of that right.

References

{{Authority control Law of the United States American legal terminology Legal immunity United States Fifth Amendment self-incrimination case law

Grand jury testimony in the United States

See also

References