United States Ninth Circuit

In the context of criminal prosecutions, for a defendant to compel use immunity the defendant must show that: 1) the defense witness's testimony was relevant; and 2) either (a) the prosecution intentionally caused the defense witness to invoke the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination with the purpose of distorting the fact-finding process, or (b) the prosecution granted immunity to a government witness in order to obtain that witness's testimony, but denied immunity to a defense witness whose testimony would have directly contradicted that of the government witness, with the effect of so distorting the fact-finding process that the defendant was denied his due process right to a fundamentally fair trial.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/03/2008
• Decided 08/15/2008
• Published 08/15/2008

Judges

• BYBEE, Circuit Judge:, Before:  D.W. NELSON, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jeff S. Pitzer, Portland, OR, for the appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Kelly A. Zusman, Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, Portland, OR, for the appellee.