Edwards v. United States

This case is here upon affirmance by the Circuit Court of Appeals of a sentence imposed after a plea of nolo contendere. We granted certiorari because there were involved certain important questions of criminal procedure, especially with respect to a plea in bar filed by petitioner. That plea claimed immunity from prosecution because of prior incriminating testimony given under compulsion by the petitioner at an investigation conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The indictment against petitioner, in eleven counts, arose out of an alleged fraudulent scheme for selling in…