§ 25-1232.Subpoena; disobedience; attachment; commitment; form; to whom directed.

Sections 25-1230 and 25-1231 give a court or officer power to arrest or commit a disobedient witness to jail. Section 25-1232 governs the order that carries out that power. The order — called an attachment for arrest or an order of commitment — must be under the seal of the court or officer, if one exists, and must state with particularity why the witness is being arrested or committed. If the commitment is for refusing to answer a question, the order must set out that question in full, not just refer to it in general terms.

The section also directs where the order goes and how it gets carried out. It may be addressed to the sheriff or coroner of the county where the witness lives or is currently found. That officer executes it by delivering the witness to the county jail and handing the jailer a copy of the order, so the jail has its own record of why the person is being held.

Read together, these requirements keep a witness from being locked up on a vague or unrecorded basis. Anyone reviewing the commitment — the witness, another court, or the jailer holding him — can see from the order itself exactly what conduct triggered it and, where relevant, exactly what question the witness would not answer.