Iris Eytan featured in Super Lawyers Article, “How You Can (and Can’t) Get Out of a Subpoena.”

Iris Eytan featured in Super Lawyers Article, “How You Can (and Can’t) Get Out of a Subpoena.”

July 31, 2019
Denver, Colorado
In a recent feature article published by Super Lawyers, Colorado criminal defense attorney Iris Eytan discussed the legalities of serving subpoenas and the consequences for not responding to them. The article, written by Super Lawyers, identifies key rules for attorneys needing to subpoena witnesses to testify in court. Some of these rules include: Subpoenas must be served to the potential witness’ hands. This must be done by someone over the age of 18 who does not have an interest in the case. Some attorneys find that hiring a sheriff to do this job results in a higher likelihood of the subpoena being heeded.
A refused subpoena is still active. Just because a person doesn’t take the document after being served it, doesn’t mean they are not accountable to show up in court. As long as the identity of the person is correct, the subpoena is served even if the potential witness drops it or refuses to open it.
You can waive the hand-to-hand subpoena service. Iris suggests that lawyers call potential witnesses and give them the option to waive the service if they will just check the box on the subpoena waiver form saying that they’ve received notice and are compliant.
In addition, Iris mentions that failure to respond to a subpoena can result in a fine and possible jail time. Even in an instance when a subpoenaed witness objects to the use of subpoenaed documents or doesn’t want to testify against family or friends, failure to do so could have devastating consequences.

Click here to read the full article