Preview of Member Only Content
For full access: 
or Become a Member 
A Primer on Crossing An Informant
By Vida B. Johnson
I. The Snitch Witness
Cooperating witnesses — commonly known as “snitches”
or “informants” — are witnesses who make deals with the government. The
testimony of these witnesses is notoriously unreliable. In fact it has
been said that lying informant witnesses are the fourth most common
cause of wrongful convictions.1
Informants give testimony against the defendant in
exchange for money, help in their own criminal case, or other
considerations. They sometimes claim to be eyewitnesses. They often
claim to be ear-witnesses. In one way or another, their job is to tell
the jury something that helps the government make its case against the
defendant. Some informants are forced into the role through overcharging
and other harsh tactics by the government attorney who knows the
cooperator is associated with the defendant. All informants have bias
that a defense attorney can exploit.
Cross-examining a cooperating witness is an extremely
important part of a criminal trial an
Want to read more?
The Champion archive is reserved for NACDL members.
NACDL members, please login to read the rest of this article.
Not a member? Join now.
Or click here to see an overview of NACDL Member benefits.
See what NACDL members say about us.
To read the current issue of The Champion in its entirety, click here.
- Media inquiries: Contact NACDL's Director of Public Affairs & Communications Ivan J. Dominguez at 202-465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org
- Academic Requests: Full articles of The Champion Magazine are available for academic and research purposes in the WestLaw and LexisNexis databases.