Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Virginia

federal grand jury

if brought in front of the fed. grand jury and you can't answer the questions asked and you plead the fifth amdmendemt,you are found in contempt of court and detained how long can they detain you. in this case they are gov. enployees and have been detained for 16 mths. at a fed. prison. my family member is allowed to go to work every day at the union hall in norfofk va. and has been let out for five days in the 16 mths. is there a statue on or time length that you have to be charged with a crime or eather released, when it involves fed. contempt of court????


Asked on 7/01/03, 6:06 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Regina Mullen Legal Data Services, PLC

Re: federal grand jury

A witness does not have the right to counsel inside of the grand jury room, BUT the witness does have the right to ask for an attorney to be appointed.

I am assuming, since the witness is in jail for contempt, that that person had no attorney outside to help him figure out how to best answer the questions asked.

The witness, who is not under indictment, CAN ask to consult with counsel during testimony, so rather than sitting in jail, why not get a lawyer who can work through whatever the issue is with the grand jury, get the testimony done with and move on?

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Answered on 7/02/03, 9:14 am


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