Patrick Leahy: “under the Federal material witness statute our government is authorized to arrest a witness in order to secure his…”

“under the Federal material witness statute our government is authorized to arrest a witness in order to secure his testimony in a criminal proceeding. In order to obtain a material witness warrant, the government must establish that the witness has information that is material to a criminal proceeding, and that it may become impracticable to secure the witness's presence at the proceeding by a subpoena. Once arrested, a material witness may be detained for a reasonable period, until his testimony can be secured by deposition or appearance in court. The material witness law was intended to ensure the appearance of witnesses in those rare cases where they might otherwise flee to avoid testifying in a criminal proceeding. This authority is an important tool for our government's law enforcement duties, but it must be exercised responsibly. As the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit noted in 2003, in the case of United States v. Awadallah, ``It would be improper for the government to use [the material witness statute] for other ends, such as the detention of persons suspected of criminal activity for which probable cause has not yet been established.'' Since September 11, 2001, however, that is exactly what the government has been doing. Indeed, senior Administration officials, including our current Attorney General, have admitted that the government routinely uses material witness warrants to detain suspects in the so-called war on terror.…”