4 ms·
Is this common practice for other organized crime trials? When a Mafia don or drug kingpin get prosecuted, do the witnesses remain secret?
by diafygi 12y ago
Is this common practice for other organized crime trials? When a Mafia don or drug kingpin get prosecuted, do the witnesses remain secret?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- burkaman 12y agoIt must be somewhat common practice, because this is what the Witness Protection Program is for, right? And that program was established under the Organized Crime Control Act.
- diafygi 12y agoWith witness protection, I thought they still had the witness take the stand, then put them into the program.
- burkaman 12y agoI don't know exactly how it works, but the witnesses will at least be under US Marshal protection before and during the trial: http://www.usmarshals.gov/witsec/ http://www.usmarshals.gov/witsec/ In an organized crime trial, I think it would make sense to keep the witnesses secret, but again I don't know the details. And either way I don't think it's necessary here.
- fastball 12y agoYes, but it doesn't do much good if the gangster knows who ratted beforehand, and has them killed. So for Witness Protection, they have you under guard and hopefully under wraps until trial, and then they give you a new identity.
- tptacek 12y agoYes. There are state criminal procedure rules that explicitly spell out when you can withhold the identities of witnesses; see for instance Ohio Criminal Procedure Rule 16 (D)(1). (I found Ohio's because there was a news story about increased use of the rule to protect witnesses there). You can't withhold the identity of a witness at trial, because of the 6th Amendment.