Witness Payment Program  

The Witness Payment Unit is responsible for paying witnesses, who appear for the State in criminal cases in all state courts. The authority for the Attorney General to pay this fee is found in NH RSA 592-A:12 (Supp.) , which requires payment to persons who are subpoenaed to court to testify. NH RSA 516:1 and RSA 516:5 require that a person who is subpoenaed to court must both appear at court and testify. Hence, testimony is required for payment. Payment requests are made at the court when appearing to testify. The current fee is regulated by NH RSA 516:16 and is $30 for a police officer and $12 per half day for all others. In addition, persons are allowed $.17/mile if they have to leave the city or town in which they live to testify. In Fiscal Year 1998, the Unit processed 19,780 appearances of police officers for a total payment of $614,916.59 and 10,057 civilians for $156,588.20.