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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » What happens if you REFUSE to answer anything in a GRAND JURY setting? Can you take the 5th and get away with it or do you go to jail?

What happens if you REFUSE to answer anything in a GRAND JURY setting? Can you take the 5th and get away with it or do you go to jail?

Posted - January 17, 2018

Responses


  • 32527
    You can always plead the 5th....it is our right as a citizen. 
      January 17, 2018 8:16 AM MST
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  • 113301
    So refusing to answer questions is our right. What happens next? Freedom or jail? Why? Thank you for your reply m2c and Happy Thursday to thee.
      January 18, 2018 4:48 AM MST
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  • 32527
    Freedom unless you are convicted of a crime...not because of refusing to answer questions.
      January 18, 2018 6:20 AM MST
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  • 7280
    Pleading the 5th is always an option.  (our right against self-crimination)

    Edit:  The Fifth Amendment creates a number of rights relevant to both criminal and civil legal proceedings. In criminal cases, the Fifth Amendment guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids “double jeopardy,” and protects against self-incrimination. It also requires that “due process of law” be part of any proceeding that denies a citizen “life, liberty or property” and requires the government to compensate citizens when it takes private property for public use.


    https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment
    This post was edited by tom jackson at January 18, 2018 4:46 AM MST
      January 17, 2018 4:19 PM MST
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  • 113301
    If you refuse to testify before a Grand Jury can you be tossed in jail? I thought you were REQUIRED to answer all questions. Being before a GRAND JURY is heavy duty stuff. If you thumb your nose at it surely there is a price to be paid. Thank you for your reply and the link tom. Appreciate both! :)
      January 18, 2018 4:47 AM MST
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  • 7280
    I assume that invoking your 5th amendment rights is an acceptable form of testimony (the statement or declaration of a witness under oath or affirmation).

    And in response to your comment about knowing all the information"---I agree with you as to the amount of information.  I wouldn't want to know as much about a given dead body as Joe Kenda does.

    I would be content just knowing pertinent facts---who died and who killed him.
      January 19, 2018 1:24 PM MST
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