use immunity
1
8.9
- noun
- /juːs ɪˈmjunɪti/
- Formal
:
inmunidad testimonial
- In exchange for his testimony, the court granted him use immunity, shielding him from any legal repercussions.
- give use immunity
Examples
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Fitz granted "use" immunity to the Rover prior to his fifth, no pun intended, appearance before the grand jury.
Blog text (24) -
The bad kind is "use immunity" and it means that the prosecutor can't use your own testimony against you—but he can use other people's testimony and evidence against you.
Blog text (24) -
Frank Probst: Cooperation, use immunity, who knows?
Blog text (29) -
The alternative given to Rover was the grant of use immunity by Fitz, which Rover had no choice but to accept.
Blog text (24) -
Naturally, grand jury witnesses are almost always given use immunity, not transactional immunity.
Blog text (24) -
It has been my experience that potential defendants' or cooperating witnesses' attorneys do not like their clients being granted use immunity.
Blog text (24) -
The prosecutor offered her use immunity to ensure she would testify at the trial without fear of self-incrimination.
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After receiving use immunity, the witness felt safe sharing vital information with the grand jury.
Synonyms
Protection that stops a court using a witness's forced answers or evidence from those answers against them
Surface Forms
Morphology
The element 'immunity' clearly signals legal protection and 'use' suggests protection specifically relating to the 'use' of something, so a learner who knows both words could plausibly infer this phrase concerns protection from the use of evidence or testimony. However, the exact legal nuance (that compelled testimony and evidence derived from it cannot be used) is technical jargon and not fully predictable from the constituents at a B1 level, making the expression partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
Use immunity comes from a simple promise: officials agree not to use a witness's answers to charge them, giving the witness immunity or protection. So, the term means a person's testimony and anything found from it cannot be 'used' against them in a criminal case.