Legal Definitions - witness tampering

Definition: Witness tampering is when someone tries to interfere with the justice system by improperly interacting with a witness before or after a trial. This can include things like threatening, harassing, or hurting the witness in order to influence their testimony.

• A defendant in a criminal trial tells a witness not to testify or to lie on the stand.
• A person offers a witness money or other incentives to change their testimony.
• A witness receives threatening phone calls or messages warning them not to testify.

These examples illustrate how witness tampering can take many different forms, but they all involve someone trying to influence the outcome of a trial by interfering with the testimony of a witness. This is illegal and can result in serious consequences for the person who engages in witness tampering.