On Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:35:16 CDT, adam said: > "(Option 3 - the guy heads downtown on a contempt of court charge - happens so > rarely that it's basically a hypothetical)." > > You do realize that (at least in the US) - contempt is *not* a criminal > offense, don't you? tl;dr: Doesn't matter, you can end up in the slammer anyhow. Actually, the general rule is that if it's a civil proceeding it's only civil contempt. Refusing to comply with warrants or subpoenas pursuant to a criminal proceeding could very well get you criminal contempt. And even in civil proceedings the judge can stick you in jail till you decide to change your mind. And we're certainly discussing a criminal proceeding here. Journalist Judith Miller got to spend 4 months in jail for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigation. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Judith_Miller_(journalist)#Contempt_of_court And this dude spent 14 years in jail on a *civil* contempt charge: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/H._Beatty_Chadwick
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