State v. Heiner

Appellant, Arthur A. Anderson, appeals from an order finding him in direct contempt of court and sentencing him to a 6-month jail term for refusing to testify at the criminal trial of Jean Paul Heiner. Heiner was charged with burglary and theft, for which Anderson had been convicted previously of the lesser included offense of criminal trespass.

Before being called as a prosecution witness at Heiner's trial on December 6, 1979, Anderson obtained a court appointed attorney to advise him. The trial judge then swore him as a witness at the trial and granted him immunity except for prosecution for…