Grand Jury testimony vs. the Constitution

Blank Frank BF at farc.org
Wed Apr 4 16:36:48 PDT 2001


At 10:29 PM 4/4/01 +0200, Anonymous wrote:
>In light of recent "situations" involving cpunks and the courts, I've
been
>thinking about the 5th Amendment.
>
>I pose two questions:
>
>If called to testify in a criminal case, and asked the question "Are
you
>known by any other names" (or a derivative of that question), could one

>plead the fifth in order to prevent the disclosure of a pseudonym?

Yes, see below.

>
>If asked the question "have you ever communicated with [third party]",
>could one plead the fifth if that communication was made through a
>pseudonym, and tying that pseudonym to oneself could potentially be
>incriminating?

Sure sounds possible, ergo plead-able.

The 5th is up to you to decide ---after all, only you know what
you've done or might be linked to.  You can only be forced to talk to a
GJ
if given immunity for anything you say, by arrangement beforehand;
I think this came up during Monicagate.  (BTW, watch for your violations
of
State law when immunized only against Fed charges..)

JY or DM could easily take the 5th if they so chose.   Instead, every
word they choose
may be misconstrued; they have no idea of the context the persecutor
[sic] has set up.

How would anyone (including themselves or their council) prove to the
subpeona'd
that any answer associating them with JB would not be incriminating in
the next wave?
Look at how JY "sent" JB out to "stalk" the CIA spook.

I would take some time (an hour) to consider any answers I chose to give
them, and I would write it down first.  Answers that I chose to give
would be as short as possible; "journalism" suffices to motivate
cryptome.  As well as DM's articles.

GJ folks should also leave the room and have a cup of coffee with their
attorney
after each question has been posed, so that the court audience enjoys
the same wasted time as the speakers.

You don't have to speak to LE (including on the street), but if you do,
lying is a crime (though they can lie to you); best to say nil.

When you come back into the courtroom, see if you can time a fart as you
go past the bench.

........
"Give a man a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
               - Oscar Wilde









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