If summoned before a Grand Jury in Connecticut, you can have an attorney assist with the proceedings. A lawyer can’t go inside the grand jury courtroom while you testify. But, you can exit the room and receive counsel from your federal criminal attorney.

Subpoenas

If a prosecutor has subpoenaed you to act as a witness for the grand jury, they do so for one of the following reasons:

• The prosecutor thinks that you have information about a crime.
• The prosecutor wants to use this information to establish an indictment against someone else.
• They believe that you are a target of a crime.
• The prosecutor wants to establish evidence against you.

Are You a Target?

Whether you are testifying as a witness or a target is oftentimes not clear. This is because the prosecution is not required to warn you of their intentions when summoning you for a grand jury testimony. Unless you get immunity for your testimony, you won’t be read your Miranda rights. Also, you won’t get a warning that the police want to investigate you for the crime. This is why having a federal criminal attorney Connecticut on your side is important.

Determining if you are a target or a witness in a case is not always easy. So, hiring a federal criminal attorney Connecticut at this stage in the process can help you obtain more information. Your defense lawyer can privately confer with the prosecution to determine if you are a target in an investigation. If this is the case, your criminal defense lawyer can help you. They can attempt to get you immunity in the case in exchange for your grand jury testimony.

Immunity

If you get immunity, it means certain things. It means that the prosecution promises not to charge you with a crime based on your testimony. Immunity can get granted if you refuse to testify for the grand jury under your Fifth Amendment right. Another way that immunity can be granted is if you and the prosecution work out a deal. Two forms of immunity are available to targets in cases of transactional immunity and use immunity. Transactional immunity allows the person given immunity not to be prosecuted for crimes related to their testimony. Use immunity, on the other hand, does not offer the target immunity from prosecution, but it does allow an immunized testimony to be off limits in any future prosecution.

Immunity is oftentimes given to people who have a minor part in a crime or those who have committed minor crimes in order to have evidence against more serious criminal offenders. The prosecution sometimes feels that it is worth letting a minor offender go if it means building a strong case against a serious criminal offender.

A federal criminal attorney Connecticut can provide more information about immunity, grand jury testimony, being a target in a case, and similar topics. To get answers now, you can contact an attorney.