Law: Scaring Off Witnesses

Testifying can be time consuming, costly—and risky

Last December a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a shotgun broke into Richard Morgan's San Francisco Bay-area home. Morgan, a burly Teamster, managed to chase him away and get his license number. But after the suspect was arrested and released on bail, police say, he threatened Morgan over the phone, assaulted him in the courthouse hallway and stole one of his dogs. Finally, the suspect tried to blow Morgan up. Returning to Morgan's house late one night in mid-August bearing 75 sticks of dynamite,...