This is a very serious true situation so please only accurate advise.
Say person A accuses person B of commiting a crime, and person B confesses, but person A no longer wishes to press charges against person A. Is there a way for person A to refuse to testify against person B, or to retract their testimony even after person B confessed?
2006-10-15 15:07:34 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
On the facts as stated there is no ground to refuse to testify. It does not appear that you will tend to incriminate yourself by testifying at least in most jurisdictions. If you would tend to incrimiante yourself you have a consitutional right under the Fifth Amendment not to testify and whatever comparable constituional provision is in your state constitution. In a few you can argue that if you testify and now tell the truth and that the prior statement was false and you knew it--this may tend to incriminate you--since you are saying that you knowingly made a false statement previously to the police. This will not work very many places however.
You can testify and tell your new version of events. They will bring up your prior statement and ask why you testifed in the way you did then. And there is always the possiblity that they could actually bring charges against you for either perjury (not telling the truth at trial) or filing a false report.
In many of these cases the prosecution will not go through with the prosecution with an uncooperative witness. However, it will depend on the seriousness of the case and what other evidence they may have.
2006-10-15 15:55:02 · answer #1 · answered by beckychr007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Person A can refuse to testify, but can also be compelled (by threat of jail) to do so. The only legal excuse for refusing to answer questions in court is self-incrimination. If person A has to admit to committing a crime in order to testify against Person B, then they could refuse. Otherwise, the judge can order them to testify.
If A is the victim of B, then telling the DA that they refuse to cooperate will usually result in the dropping of the case. A confession alone, without a victim, is usually a hard row to hoe for a prosecutor. It really depends on the crime.
2006-10-15 15:17:27 · answer #2 · answered by normobrian 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Further to what Diamond just said, it also depends on the relationship of the 2 people, for example if they are husband and wife, they cannot be forced to testify against the other.
2006-10-15 15:15:16 · answer #3 · answered by Bart S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My understanding is that, IF the victim is A or A made a mistake or realized a new fact, they CAN retract it. OTHERWISE, it depends! If you say you lied, you are guilty of PERJURY! The persons confession is immaterial. Technically, that can't be used solely to convict, and even NEW evidence can be thrown out. If you lied, they used it to cause him to confess, and they searched and found evidence that he murdered 10 people, they could concievably be forced to throw it ALL out, he could go free FOREVER(lack of probably cause, fruit of the poisoness tree, double jeopardy), and you could be thrown in jail!(perjury and possibly contempt of court) BTW IANAL
2006-10-15 15:45:51 · answer #4 · answered by seasoned 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That depends on the crime if it a serious crime the DA doesn't care if you change your mind they will forge ahead w/a conviction....and call you as a hostile witness.
2006-10-15 15:11:18 · answer #5 · answered by Diamond in the Rough 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Out of my league. Would recomend consulting a lawyer.
IMHO,
The Ol' Sasquatch Ã
2006-10-15 15:15:07 · answer #6 · answered by Ol' Sasquatch 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on the case.
2006-10-15 15:09:56 · answer #7 · answered by Robert C 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋