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Response: Good question: My answer is going to be
based on federal and generic grand jury practice--the answer may be different in some
states, since their rules vary from the federal/common law model.
The prosecutor should
not be able to veto the grand jury's desire to call witnesses, because it is the GRAND
JURY that investigates, not the prosecutor. I don't see any reason why the prosecutor
cannot give his/her opinion as to the inadviability or lack of necessity for calling a
witness, but if the grand jury persists, the prosecutor cannot veto their efforts. If the
prosecutor thinks the grand jury has "run away" and is subpoenaing people
for improper reasons (harassment, curiousity, etc.), the prosecutor's logical recourse is
to ask the judge who supervises the grand jury to dismiss them. |