How have the courts treated immunity granted to former codefendants and alleged coconspirators?

The prosecution called five former codefendants and alleged coconspirators to testify under immunity. The parties and the trial court knew in advance that all five witnesses would refuse to testify notwithstanding the grants of immunity. As expected, each witness refused to answer the prosecution's questions, and the court held each witness in contempt in the presence of the jury. Existing case law allows the prosecution to employ this procedure, and the jury is entitled to use a witness's refusal to testify to support certain negative inferencese.g., that the witness may fear retribution by a gang, or that gang members adhere to a code of silence. (People v. Sisneros (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 142; People v. Lopez (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 1550.)