Can a confidential informant be made to testify in court?
• A: Possibly. A confidential informant or source is a person who assists the police by providing information used to charge or convict another person of a crime. The informant might be acting only out of a sense of duty to help apprehend violators without regard to personal gain. This kind of informant is called a “citizen informant.” Other informants provide information in exchange for money. And still other informants provide their information in exchange for leniency in matters involving their own wrongdoing.Prosecutors must disclose the informant’s identity if it would be relevant or helpful to the defense, or essential to giving the defenant a fair trial. Common examples of this are where the informant was an eyewitness to, or a participant in, any of the offenses that were charged. An informant can be made to testify at either a pretrial hearing or at a trial. For example, if the informant’s identity is ordered disclosed because she was the source of information for a search war
