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Some answers to some questions on Grand Juries.

 
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
Posts: 2136
Location: Sacramento, CA

PostPosted: Mon May 05, 2003 2:37 pm    Post subject: Some answers to some questions on Grand Juries. Reply with quote

I sent in a question about grand juries to a legal group on the Internet, and I have received an answer already. The name of the group is on the bottom here, so I will just leave it there. My question was answered very well. Maybe I did not ask a big enough question.
benn

I just saw Scott Peterson on the tv news. He does not look very good. There is no fun and games now for him. He should have realized that before he did whatever he did. All of these criminals, or accused criminals, are alike. They can't see farther ahead than right in front of their noses. That is you, Scott. Yes, that is you.

benn

Here is the answer I received to my questions about Grand Juries.

>>>You raise some good questions. The answer is that, generically speaking (that is, as to federal law and as to the law in most states), we have no way of knowing if the grand jury is doing what it is supposed to do, including but not limited to reviewing sealed depositions taken in civil suits.

As you note, a grand jury could examine such depositions. All it would need to do is to subpoena them. The fact that they are sealed for the purposes of the civil suit would not prevent the grand jury's getting them, since their proceedings are also secret. Courts in analogous situations have held that grand jury secrecy provides enough protection to allow grand juries access to information that is being kept secret in a civil proceeding.

As to the larger issue, in the federal system and in most states, anyway (there may be exceptions, but I doubt it), grand jury proceedings are and remain secret, which means the public has no way of knowing if they have done what they are supposed to, with regard to criminal matters, anyway. If you check the Internet, you will find a lot of reports issued by grand juries in California, and some from grand juries in other states, dealing with civil matters, such as the condition of jails and other issues of local government. These are made public because they were not prepared as part of a criminal investigation; given the purpose of the inquiry, there is no need for secrecy. And you may find a few reports that touch on criminal matters (I ran across one recently from NY, which was an investigation into sexual abuse by priests in a given parish), along with some published statistics on how many cases a grand jury considered, how many indictments were returned, etc. But as to general investigative inquiries, I think that remains a sealed book.

Susan W. Brenner
NCR Distinguished Professor of Law & Technology
University of Dayton School of Law
300 College Park
Dayton, OH 45469-2772 USA
phone: +1 (937) 229-2929
fax: +1 (937) 229-2469
http://www.cybercrimes.net
http://www.udayton.edu/~grandjur


Benf5 <benf5
05/04/2003 04:17 AM MST

To: brenner@udayton.edu
cc:
bcc:
Subject: A few related questions about grand juries.


"E-mail questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this site."

I have a question, or a comment, about grand juries, but I don't know if I am at the right place here.<<<<

Evidently I found the right place.

I am a little concerned about the total secrecy in grand juries,
because how can the public know if the grand jury is doing what it is
supposed to do?

Along that line there are some civil lawsuits taking place at the
present time where the people doing the suing are also the subjects of
investigation in a criminal case. The lawsuits to date have received
depositions which have been sealed by the parties involved. I have
heard that grand juries may look at sealed depositions for possible
evidence in criminal proceedings. I may not have stated that entirely
correctly, but I think I am close.

Therefore the question arises how do we the members of the public know
if a grand jury has indeed examined sealed depositions in a civil
lawsuit to see if any of the testimony would be of value in a criminal
investigation?

I think I have stated my question clearly.

Any answers appreciated.

Lester
Sacramento, CA
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Tue May 06, 2003 12:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ahh, Dayton, just an hour from here. I used to live there. Most interesting line of inquiry, benn, and interesting answers from the professor.

rd
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