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N8CCRG t1_iuuubzt wrote

That's not the part I found unclear. I meant the difference between "immunity agreement" and "granted immunity".

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BowwwwBallll t1_iuuy5lt wrote

An immunity AGREEMENT can be very broad. The witness can agree that nothing in his testimony can incriminate him, OR that nothing that the government finds out as a result of his testimony can incriminate him. Which is a very nice deal.

Having immunity GRANTED can mean as little as no prosecution for the answers given in response to questioning, BUT, if the answers open an investigation into other illicit dealings independent of the actions about which the witness is questioned, the witness can and will be prosecuted for those.

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RSquared t1_iuvwiyf wrote

A notable fuckup was a grant of immunity to Oliver North when testifying to Congress about Iran-Contra. He successfully overturned his conviction because the prosecution couldn't show that they absolutely didn't use his public testimony in preparing the ironclad case against him.

Another one is the medic who was supposed to testify against Eddie Gallagher, and was granted immunity, only to claim that he himself did the killing that Gallagher was accused of.

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