Turn state's evidence


A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against his/her associate or accomplice, often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution. The testimony of a witness who testifies against co-conspirator may be important evidence.

History

In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms, the term is to turn Queen's or King's evidence, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch. The term "turning approver" or "turn king's approver" was also historically used, and is still used in India and Pakistan; an approver "not only admitted his own guilt to a crime but also incriminated his accomplices both past and present" in exchange for avoiding a death sentence or improving prison conditions.
In American parlance, a defendant who agrees to cooperate with prosecutors and give information against co-conspirators is also said to flip.
Witnesses who have turned state's evidence have been important in organized crime cases in the United States, such as those against the American Mafia. The first mafiosi who turned state's evidence, such as Joseph Valachi and Jimmy Fratianno, did so in response to threats on their life from Mafia associates; later cooperators were motivated to cooperate in order to avoid heavy sentences, such as those provided for under the RICO Act. Some who turned state's evidence were permitted to participate in the Witness Security Program. Among the highest-ranking Mafia members to ever turn state's evidence was Salvatore Gravano, an underboss of the Gambino crime family who pleaded guilty to 19 murders and agreed to testify against family boss John Gotti.. Joseph Massino was also the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence.
The incentives to turn state's evidence, or to not to do so, are explored in the famous prisoner's dilemma, created by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher.