Opinion ID: 704022
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Immunity instructions

Text: 41 Although we hold that the district court on remand should make a finding whether the government breached its informal immunity agreement with Dudden, we also conclude that the court properly refused to give Dudden's proposed immunity instructions to the jury. The first instruction described informal immunity, and asked the jury to find whether an informal agreement existed. The instruction also directed the jury to decide whether the government had established that Dudden's prosecution was based on evidence entirely independent from her immunized statements, citing Kastigar. A second proposed instruction stated that it was the jury's duty to find Dudden not guilty if it found a breach of the immunity agreement. 42 The instructions were properly refused as an incorrect statement of the law. The determination of the terms of an immunity agreement, and the decision whether the government has proven that it did not breach the agreement in preparing its case for trial, is not for the jury to make after trial. Instead, the judge must determine before trial whether the government has proven its independent sources, if necessary with a Kastigar hearing. See, e.g., Crowson, 828 F.2d at 1429; United States v. Lipkis, 770 F.2d 1447, 1450 (9th Cir.1985).