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Response: You pose some
difficult questions, especially since I know it's a state grand jury
but don't know what state. And please understand, I am not attempting
to give you legal advice; I do not do that–I simply provide general
information about how grand juries work.
Since I don't know what state we're dealing with, all I can do is
explain how it would work in the federal system, since many states
follow the federal approach. I suspect many states would handle the
situation the same way it would be handled in the federal system.
In the federal system, Rule 606(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence
says that whenever there is an inquiry into whether an indictment is
valid, a grand juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the
course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon
that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to
assent to or dissent from the . . . indictment or concerning the
juror's mental processes in connection therewith, except that a juror may testify on the question whether
extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the
jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly
brought to bear upon any juror. Nor may a juror's affidavit or
evidence of any statement by the juror concerning a matter about which
the juror would be precluded from testifying be received for
these purposes.
Under this rule, therefore, grand jurors cannot testify or provide
affidavits about the nature and kind of evidence that was presented
and the effect this evidence had upon their decision to indict. And
the effect of this rule is only enhanced by Rule 6(e), which imposes
secrecy in federal grand jury proceedings. Under Rule 6(e), the nature
and kind of evidence presented plus the effect this evidence had upon
the decision-making of a grand jury would be "matters
occurring" before the grand jury and would, therefore, be
encompassed by grand jury secrecy. If a grand juror were to disclose
these matters–orally and/or in a written affidavit–this would be a
violation of grand jury secrecy, which can be punished as criminal
contempt in the federal system. It might also be prosecuted as
obstruction of justice, depending upon the facts involved and the
prosecutor's inclinations. |
