Could You Get Immunity Instead of Facing Criminal Charges?
Most people are familiar with the 5th Amendment of the Constitution, which provides protections against self-incrimination. Essentially, a person can’t be forced to share information that is directly incriminating, or that could lead police or prosecutors to later discover incriminating evidence. It’s a big deal for anyone who’s been arrested, because clearly, as a suspect, there is some reason that you are believed to be involved in criminal activity. Sometimes, even if prosecutors suspect or have strong evidence that you are responsible for a crime, they may wish to catch a bigger fish. That could mean an opportunity for you to trade information and testimony for your own immunity. Because there are some restrictions in deals like this, you always want an experienced criminal lawyer by your side as you make decisions related to immunity.
Total Immunity
Total immunity, also known as transactional immunity, shields you from all future charges related to your testimony. While total immunity is not offered in federal cases, many states, including Nevada, do.
Use and Derivative Immunity
This type of immunity protects you from having what you say–or any evidence discovered as a result of your testimony—from being used against you. It’s basically the protection provided by the 5th Amendment. While you could be tried for crimes that you testify about, charges must rely on evidence that is completely independent of your testimony or evidence related to your testimony. In other words, the more details you testify to, the wider the protections against future prosecution.
Why Offer Immunity?
As mentioned earlier, prosecutors tend to offer immunity to people who they believe are responsible for minor crimes in the hopes that their testimony will lead to enough evidence to convict someone guilty of a more serious crime. Quite often these deals are made in cases involving organized crime or gang activity, where subordinates are offered a deal to get immunity if they agree to testify against a ringleader. If you change your mind and back out of testifying, you’ll likely wind up in jail.
If Prosecutors Try to Prosecute You Anyway
Let’s say you do your part and testify as requested by the prosecutor, and later the prosecutor comes after you despite your immunity. You can use your immunity deal as your defense. That means the prosecution will have to provide specific evidence obtained outside of your testimony in order to proceed. Anything they have that is related to the immunized testimony will be excluded from consideration. If they can’t prove they obtained new evidence from another source, it’ll be the end of their case.
Fighting for You
The experienced Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys at Lobo Law always fight for the best possible outcomes for you. To discuss your situation, schedule a confidential consultation in our Las Vegas office today.
Source:
leg.state.nv.us/Session/80th2019/Bills/AB/AB55.pdf
