united-states criminal-law california witnesses japan
Can peer/societal-pressure count as witness intimidation?
<p>Inspired by Yakuza: Lost Judgement.</p>
<p>Briana the boss committed a crime, and only Walter the worker directly witnessed it. Briana is well-loved in society (e.g. very sociable and nice to everyone, with a legion of followers on Twitter), as well as Walter's boss. Everyone on social media is fiercely in favour of Briana, who is a strong advocate for female empowerment.</p>
<p>Sam (who Suffered from Briana's crime) wants to take Briana to trial. Walter initially agrees to testify as a witness. But after seeing the tirade of social media posts in support of the powerful female rolemodel Briana, and considering that Briana is his boss, Walter realizes it's not worth coming out against Briana, especially when Sam isn't likely to win.</p>
<p>Is there any decent case to consider this as witness intimidation of Walter, or anything of the sort? Walter's peers (at work) and society (on social media) are giving him every pressure not to stand up to Briana, to be clear.</p>
<p>If you want a concrete example, consider a case where Briana sexually assaulted Sam in front of Walter.</p>
<p>Edit:
For those curious, the original context is: a male teacher let a student be bullied into suicide. When the dead student's father sued the school, a female teacher who witnessed the bullying didn't testify, because the male teacher was her superior, and it would ruin her career.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/canada" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;canada&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;canada&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="tag-canada-tooltip-container">canada</a></p>
<p>Witness intimidation is defined at <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-423.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s. 423 of the  <em>Criminal Code</em></a>. Witness intimidation requires a specific purpose and also requires violence, threats, following, or similar physical acts.</p>
<p>Obstruction of justice is defined at <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-139.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s. 139</a>. Obstruction of justice requires the specific intent &quot;to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice.&quot;</p>
<p>Without more, the circumstances you describe do not make out the elements of those offences. The facts as described do not demonstrate that the people are &quot;giving him every pressure.&quot; They are not bribing him; they are not threatening him with violence; they are not using corrupt means; etc.</p>
