I am a dead man...

[VenomX]

There was a fight at my job in December.

I was just handed a subpoena from the Assistant US Attorney to appear at a Grand Jury by an ATF agent. He told me to appear or I would goto jail.


I didnt get the subpoena until Sunday afternoon. Great notice huh? Boss isnt too happy I have to either miss work or be late but understands. My stomach has been doing flip flops since I got it. I am scared out of my mind.

[CancelMyService]

Sometimes doing the right thing sucks.

Think of it this way, by doing this you'll make sure no one else gets beaten up or hurt by the business they do.

[VenomX]

But it may get ME beat up or even killed.

[Pedersen]

Sometimes doing the right thing sucks.

It would be one thing if this were VenomX choosing to do the right thing. As it is, he is being compelled to do something which will be of questionable value to legal enforcement, but puts him at risk.

If he were choosing to do it, then that would be fine. However, he's not choosing this. He's being forced. For questionable value.

I, for one, can understand the fear. And won't try to say "Hey, you're doing the right thing, at least".

Oh, and no, you don't get to turn down a subpoena for a grand jury. If you choose not to go, they put you in prison. If you choose to go, and refuse to answer questions, they put you in prison.

But it may get ME beat up or even killed.

VenomX, I don't have good advice for you, unfortunately.

*MOD EDIT - Removed details that had been deleted by the member under instruction from the court. If he's not posting it, then neither should you.

[digilight]

The one thing that you have going for you is that the Defense is not usually allowed in during a grand jury session. From what I have read there is only the Prosecutor(s) and the Witnesses. It is strictly a one sided thing. So there is actually a chance that those guys won't even know that you are there or at least what you said. Good luck.

[princess4life]

VenomX the best thing you can do is be honest, and tell them exactly what you saw and what happened. Working security I have been to court for so many different things and half the time I have to look over the incident reports to even remember what happened there have even been occasions when I wasn't directly involved just because I work the front doors they assumed that I see everything that happens everywhere.

You might get lucky and those guys wont show up for court, but in that case as soon as the guys are caught then you will have to go to court. Don't worry about your job you can't be fired because you are legally required to be there, and you also get paid by the courts for being there.

Good luck.

[VenomX]

Well I need to edit my first post.

I was in and out in under 1 hour. They told me noone but me, the ATF guy, the Assistant US Attorney and the members of the Grand Jury would be the only ones to know I was there. By law I am the only one who can tell anyone that yes I was there and what I had to say.

My co-workers might not be happy though. I told exactly what happened and how I found out their names. They asked for my co-workers names and I gave them to them. When I was asked why I didnt call the police I said because he told me not to and the inside guy said he didnt call because he knew them all and the one that got beat up deserved what he got because they had a run in in the past.

The Assistant US Attorney and Grand Jury all laughed at that... And he said thats a understandable reason..

[Dark-Star]

Yipes. Will be praying for you. I don't know if I'd have the balls not to run like hell.

[Caveat Emptor]

Pardon my ignorance, but why would the ATF and a grand jury be required for a fight?

[Broomjockey]

ATF also handles drugs. It was likely a fight between dealers, or a dealer and his lackey, who turned on him, or was skimming. So assualt charges become part of the drug charges, making it ATF jurisdiction.

And in order to file any charges (or possibly just felony, not sure how it works in all cases), a grand jury must be conveined to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

[digilight]

ATF also handles drugs.

Actually, DEA would handle the drug front. But the fight was between some thugs and a undercover agent. Most likely there were weapons trafficing violations that they were also persuing.

[VenomX]

Pardon my ignorance, but why would the ATF and a grand jury be required for a fight?

There was more to my original post.. I edited it out after being asked not to let out some info.

It made todays paper. Dang that was fast... A federal grand jury indicted him but I dont believe its all over yet. As some of what I was told is not meantioned in the paper.

The article is online, not sure if I should post a link here.

[Primer]

The article is online, not sure if I should post a link here.

Then please, do NOT post a link.

Yeah, we may be curious, but you need to cover your butt.

good luck!

[Meadhands]

There was more to my original post.. I edited it out after being asked not to let out some info.

I was wondering why I couldn't see any of the info that Pedersen was mentioning. I looked through half of your old threads to see if I could find the story before I realized what happened. But yeah, if they ask you not to release any info, it is best to listen. It might even be advisable to request Petersen change his post as well, also just in case.

Well, good luck with this. Sounds... annoying, I guess. A grand jury would definately fall into the "interrupting my day" catagory.

[Javarod]

This would be about an incident back in September? I can see why you'd be scared.