Did You Receive a Federal Grand Jury Subpoena?

 Posted on December 06, 2019 in Your Rights

Receiving a federal grand jury subpoena is very frightening. You must take action as soon as possible, as the consequences of doing nothing are great. You may not know whether you are the suspect in a criminal case, or if the federal prosecutor wants to speak to you as a witness. Taking action can help clear this up, and make sure you protect yourself. Below are a few tips that will help you do just that.

Contact the United States Attorney’s Office

After you receive your subpoena, there’s a very good chance that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will know much more about the case than you will. You will need to contact them, but it is likely that they will be very reluctant to discuss the case with you, particularly if you are a suspect in a criminal case. This task should be left to a federal criminal defense attorney that will understand how to handle the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Get the Subpoena Nullified

If the U.S. Attorney’s Office is reluctant to reduce the scope of the subpoena, it may be necessary to try and get the subpoena nullified, which is known as filing a motion to quash. Due to the fact that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has the right to issue grand jury subpoenas without approval, a federal just may limit your testimony or the requirement for you to submit certain documents. Again, you will need an attorney to help with this task.

Prepare Your Testimony or Document Submission

If you do not comply with the subpoena, you may face charges of contempt. To avoid this, you will need to submit a legally-compliant response that answers the subpoena and provides the U.S. Attorney’s Office with what they need.

Assert Your Fifth Amendment Rights

The Fifth Amendment provides you with protection from incriminating yourself. This is a very complicated area, though. The federal courts do not view documents as being protected by the Fifth Amendment. However, if the mere act of supplying those documents is incriminating, it can be argued that producing them is a violation of your rights. The Fifth Amendment also does not protect business entities that are the target of a federal investigation.

File a Motion to Dismiss

Even if the process has gone so far that the grand jury has convened and issued an indictment, there are still measures you can take to protect yourself. An attorney can inform you what these are, and file the motion to dismiss, to give you the ultimate in protection.

Call an Illinois Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer that Can Help

If you have been served a federal grand jury subpoena, the best thing you can do to protect your rights is to speak to a skilled Chicago federal criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible. At the Law Offices of Hal M. Garfinkel, we know the steps to take to ensure that a subpoena never goes farther than that. If you have been served with a subpoena, call us today at 312-629-0669 for your free consultation so we can start reviewing your case.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/contact-us