Legal: what kind of deal would our hero want from the FBI?

[Janx]

After a long respite, I have returned with a weird question for us to discuss.

I am writing the part in my novel where the FBI has become involved. Our hero is wanted for questioning about something. He's not the bad guy, nor is he working with the FBI as some kind of consultant that gets away with murder yet.

So, he's in room 669 at the FBI branch office, his lawyer is there, and wants some kind of agreement or immunity deal. Presumably the lawyer wants the deal because some of what our hero does might be illegal (as in violating FCC or hacking) and it'd be best to be protected before answering questions.

Also, it's Thanksgiving Day.


What kind of deal would the lawyer ask for? Who would have the authority to sign it?

While TV is very fanciful on all sorts of deals, there's not a lot of info via Google on it (though I did learn about 3 types of Immunity).

Anybody think they know stuff?

I can supply more background info, I just didn't want to core-dump to get the discussion rolling.

 

[Nagol]

Probably "use and derivative use immunity" which would need a federal prosecutor to sign off. Alternatively, he may try to become a confidential informant which just requires the agents (and he to trust them) to use their discretion and overlook his potentially criminal activity in hopes of catching bigger fish though I suspect an attorney would be much more comfortable with the former.

 

[Ryujin]

It might possibly have to come from as high a level as the Office of the AG.

 

[tuxgeo]

The FBI doesn't prosecute--they merely investigate. Official prosecutors would be needed to make a deal of that sort, though it might not need to be a member of the US Department of Justice. Also, would a Grand Jury need to be convened first, in order to have potential charges to be prosecuted that could then be dealt away?

These issues have arisen during the 2016 election cycle, and there were many articles about the FBI Director's saying no prosecutor would bring charges about a case the FBI was investigating. One of the thoughts expressed was that it's not the FBI's call, because they don't prosecute. (I can't go into more detail here because of the no-politics rule.)

 

[Janx]

Thanks for the info/ideas so far.

Initially in the scene, I've had the lawyer demand that the Attorney General (of the US) sign off on it. Luckily, that's just text in a word processor that I an change

I think I was close to the mark, but maybe shot a bit high with that.

Who would qualify as a "Federal Prosecutor"? What kind of employee/position is that? What Department (Department of Justice presumably)?


In the actual story (thus far, in the current version):
our hero lost his laptop 13 years ago when he was held captive and forced to unlock it. He hid and encrypted sensitive info (that even he hasn't seen) on it.
The evil CIA Guy was working with the bad guys who captured him
Now, the bad guys are dead, an Evil CIA Guy came back with the laptop as "evidence" to investigate our hero's connection (aka unlock it)
The FBI got involved when the Evil CIA Guy was disarmed by our hero during a rough interview where the Evil Guy shot a cop.
The FBI now has the laptop and basically want to know how our hero is connected (and probably how/why a CIA guy came to have no arms while visiting the Hero)

I figure I can play a little fast and loose with what the police/FBI will let pass if there's a clear bad guy taken down, but the grey area I'm trying to show that not everything gets a pass, even in FictionLand, as well as to actually unlock the laptop and reveal the clue that advances the plot.

That means my Hero can't attack/ignore/run away from the FBI. Nor do I want him turning into an outlaw actively sought by the Feds. Nor do I want him getting arrested. This is a Plead the Fifth kind of situation that a lawyer would like some paper signed on.

Thus, I'm looking for a way to smooth out the situation while showing this could go south for our hero.

If that's not feasible, then I need to re-shape how things go down. I can just as easily make the Evil CIA guy show him the laptop and get the plot point resolved that way.

 

[Nagol]

There's a good wiki page about federal prosecutors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney

This fragment is probably what you're looking for:

The Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) is the public official who represents the federal government on behalf of the U.S. Attorney. AUSAs decide what criminal charges to bring, and when and where a person will answer to those charges. In carrying out their duties, AUSAs have the authority to investigate persons, grant immunity to witnesses and accused criminals, and plea bargain with defendants.

 

[Janx]

There's a good wiki page about federal prosecutors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney

This fragment is probably what you're looking for:

That is spot on the kind of thing I needed. Thanks!

I'm not writing a legal procedural, but I wanted to refer to some things that are plausible to help wiggle out of legal complications to what a real "Action Hero" would face in the real world.

Any idea how long it might take an AUSA to sign an agreement of immunity? Proper name for such a document?

My situation is that it's tied to a "terror attack" on a holiday, so big wigs aren't exactly chilling at Camp David playing golf any more.

Probably just as important, would an AUSA sign an agreement to get the cooperation of somebody kind of like Tony Stark/Dr. Strange* to reveal what they know about a terror event they just helped stop/unexpected rogue CIA activity going on?

*my protagonist is a technomage who went public. Not quite a super-hero, but has been in the news lately...

 

[Nagol]

Not being a U.S. lawyer (or any other type other than rules) and never needing such a thing myself, I think the correct name was in my first reply: "use and derivative use immunity" which basically means the prosecution can't use the subject's testimony or evidence revealed by that testimony against him.

As for timing, that's probably at the speed of plot. IRL, I expect it could take anywhere from on-the-spot- to quite a while depending on how desperate the prosecutor was to move a case along, if there was even a case under consideration, how involved the subject appeared to be, and if there are any pressures being brought to bear on the prosecutor. Legal activities are often glacially slow.

The nice thing (from the prosecutor's perspective) about this form of agreement is it doesn't offer blanket immunity. If the investigator's can develop a case without your testimony and evidence revealed by it then you're still on the hook. I can see why it is a reasonably popular immunity agreement for the Feds. I could see an official offering such an agreement considering the "concerned citizen" probably didn't break any laws anyway except through incidental or coerced behaviour. If you're not planning on pursuing the subject legally anyway, it costs little to put in writing.

Now if the subject originally stole the files and his plot got interrupted by having the laptop stolen from him it might be a different story.

 

[Janx]

Now if the subject originally stole the files and his plot got interrupted by having the laptop stolen from him it might be a different story.

This is close to how it might appear, though not actually how it went down in the story.

The hero was a network engineer, was trouble-shooting, did a packet sniff to see what traffic was jamming things up, was rushed, so he saved the file to look at later.

The bad guys, on hearing that, captured him and tried to find out what it was, but with a bit of magic, nothing was found.

fast-forward to the present, and the laptop resurfaces and the bad guys take another stab at it.

Now the FBI has it as evidence and our hero's prints are on the equipment.

So it might look like stolen data, but it's not quite, under the duties of a network engineer.

 

[tomBitonti]

An interesting link regarding data theft:

http://computerfraud.us/computer-crime/the-conflicting-rulings-on-employee-data-theft

Thx!
TomB