Michigan residents who are facing criminal accusations can find themselves in a state of panic. Depending on the circumstances, this can be normal as the potential penalties that could be doled out upon conviction could be life-altering. Therefore, some may try anything they can to avoid conviction. However, those who are facing criminal charges should be careful how they approach potential witnesses because misconduct could be found to be criminal, giving rise to a whole other legal matter.

This misconduct could be intimidating in nature, such as threatening an individual to either testify or refrain from testifying or influential, such as paying a potential witness to acquire wanted testimony. The key point here is that the act will be considered criminal if it seeks to influence testimony, deter an individual from participating in legal matters or attempts to get the witness to testify falsely or withhold information while giving testimony.

This may seem like a relatively minor thing, but the court takes the truth extremely seriously as it is the foundation upon, which justice is found. Those accused and convicted of this crime can be hit with up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. These penalties can be doubled or tripled if the underlying criminal charge about which the witness was going to testify was significant.

Being accused of a crime can give rise to fear. Yet, those facing allegations of criminal wrongdoing should avoid speaking to witnesses. Despite following that basic rule, though, there may be instances where an individual is accused of tampering with or intimidating a witness. When this happens, it may be time to discuss the matter with a criminal defense attorney.

Source: Legislature.Mi.gov, “Section 750.122,” accessed on Oct. 9, 2015