Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

Re: celebrity homicide testimony

Prior to making a decision you should sit down with an attorney and discuss your options, but you do have a right to sell your own truthful testimony.

Re: celebrity homicide testimony

If you're referring to your own testimony, you can say whatever you saw, even if you testify at a grand jury proceeding. There are other concerns you should consider. If you implicate someone who turns around and sues you, you'll need to have resources to defend. While truth may be a defense to defamation, and there are even broader protections when the allegedly defamed person is famous, you won't be able to assert the truth until you've spent time and money answering a complaint and making motions. Selling your testimony, however, is not so easy.News organizations are highly unlikely to buy it as it violates journalistic ethics and standards. Some organizations get around this by buying "ancillary" material that the witness might have or folding it under a non-news forum. There are organizations that may pay for a story but they are not the NY Times, BBC, CNN/Fox News or a TV network. If you don't sell the story but offer it as a news piece, you may be able to eventually parlay that into a book if you have enough to say or contribute.