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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Gill, I actually appreciate that thinking very much. It is offensive on many levels to be forced to testify in a Grand Jury proceeding. However, it's the law and I all I can tell you is my own experience as an attorney who has handled over 100 people who have been subpoenaed before a federal grand jury and been given immunity after initially refusing to testify under oath. In each of those 100 or so cases my client had to make the tough choice of whether to testify or go to prison for contempt. More than rarely the client refused to testify and was jailed for contempt. In each of those instances it was due to not wanting to implicate a co-conspirator (for a variety of reasons). Keep in mind that in order to even assert the Fifth Amendment you have to show a Court that your anticipated testimony could form a link in a chain of evidence leading to your indictment for a crime.