Production Immunity

Although the concept of production immunity is relatively new, in 1886 the United States Supreme Court held that the compulsory production of private papers containing incriminating information violated the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court has since found that as long as the subpoenaed papers were prepared voluntarily, the documents themselves cannot be said to contain compelled testimonial evidence. The documents therefore may not always be withheld on Fifth Amendment grounds. More...

Witnesses and Confidential or Classified Information

Prosecutions involving issues of war, national security or espionage may involve witness testimony and classified information. Classified information is defined as information that should not be disclosed to the public because of the sensitivity of the information or the source from which the information was derived. Prosecutors and defense attorneys should avoid divulging classified information during the witness's testimony. Under the Classified Information Procedures Act, the attorneys are to avoid any unnecessary or inadvertent disclosure of classified information. More...

Stipulations of Expected Testimony, Trial Procedure, and Rules of Evidence in a Criminal Trial

The parties in a criminal trial may stipulate or agree to the expected testimony of a witness that will not be able to attend or testify at trial. The parties may also stipulate to the contents of a document that will not be produced at trial. When the parties stipulate to expected witness testimony or to the contents of a document, they are not stipulating to the admissibility or factual accuracy of the testimony or document. More...

Prosecutions for State Insurance Fraud

Most states have statutes governing the issue of insurance fraud. One may be charged with insurance fraud if: the individual prepared or presented a false or fraudulent written statement; the individual aided, solicited or conspired in presenting a fraudulent written statement; the individual had the specific intent to defraud the insurer. More...

RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS

Being a victim of a crime is a frightening experience. Until fairly recently, crime victims had no rights and did not have access to any federal, state or local services to help them through the experience. In most states, there are now many services and resources that are available to crime victims. More...