An Act To Comprehensively Address Grand Jury Territorial Authority To Indict for Crimes
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 2197
Committee: Judiciary
Amends: 15 MRSA §1256

Legislative Document 
No. 2197 
H.P.1567 
House of Representatives, February 6, 2008 
An Act To Comprehensively Address Grand Jury Territorial 
Authority To Indict for Crimes 
Reported by Representative GERZOFSKY of Brunswick for the Criminal Law Advisory 
Commission pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, section 1354, subsection 2. 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed under Joint Rule 
218. 
Pnnted on recy!.;IeJ papt.:'r 
11l~ 
1J7.1llu£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 15 MRS A §1255-A is enacted to read: 
§1255-A. Grand jury territorial authority to indict for crimes 
1. General rule. Grand jury territorial authority to indict for crimes coming within 
the jurisdiction of the Superior Court must be exercised by the grand jury serving the 
county where the crime was committed. 
2. Exceptions. The following are exceptions to subsection 1. 
A. If the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court creates judicial regions for 
venue purposes pursuant to Title 4, section 19, each grand jury in a multicounty 
judicial region may share authority to indict for crimes committed in that judicial 
regIOn. 
B. 
Grand jury territorial authority to indict for crimes may also be exercised as 
otherwise provided by law. 
3. 
Administration. 
The Supreme Judicial Court shall establ ish by rule or 
administrative order how and to what extent the shared authority of each grand jury in a 
multicounty judicial region to indict under subsection 2 may be exercised. 
Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §1256, as amended by PL 1973, c. 567, §20, is further amended 
to read: 
§1256. Grand jury to present all crimes 
Grand juries shall present all offenses cognizable by the court at which they attend 
crimes for which by law they are given territorial authority to indict, and may appoint one 
of their number to take minutes of their proceedings to be del ivered to the attorney, if the 
jury so directs. When they are dismissed before the court adjourns, they may be 
summoned again, on any special occasion, at such time as the court directs. Evidence 
relating to offenses cognizable by the court may be offered to the grand jury by the 
Attorney General, the district attorney, the assistant district attorney and, at the discretion 
of the presiding justice, by such other persons as said presiding justice may permit. 
SUMMARY 
Under Maine law, grand jury territorial authority to indict for any crime coming 
within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court is directly tied to the criminal trial venue of 
that court. State v. True, 330 A.2d 787, 790 (Me. 1975) (liThe same factors which bear 
on venue [for the Superior Court] will also determine the grand jury's territorial 
authority. ") As used in this context, venue designates the particular county in which the 
Superior Court is authorized to exercise its jurisdictional authority to decide a particular 
criminal case. Id. at 789. Rule 21(a)(l) of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure 
currently fixes Superior Court venue as follows: 
liThe trial shall be in the county in 
which the crime was committed, except as otherwise provided by law." The Maine 
Page I - 123LR3457(OI)-1 
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Revised Statutes, Title 15, section 1256 currently provides the "statutory definition of a 
grand jury's territorial jurisdiction." Id. at 790, n.3. It reads: "Grand jurors shall present 
all offenses cognizable by the court at which they attend .... " As a consequence, except as 
otherwise provided by law, a grand jury's jurisdictional authority to indict is limited to 
crimes committed within the county for which it serves. Numerous statutes currently 
provide flexibility as to criminal trial venue by allowing for a prosecution to be brought 
in a venue (county) other than the county in which the criminal conduct occurred. See, 
e.g., Title 15, section 3 and Title 17-A, sections 352, subsection 5, paragraph E; 506, 
subsection 2; 552, subsection 2-A; 703, subsection 3; 708, subsection 3-A; 755, 
subsection 3-A; 805, subsection 1-8; and II 06-A. These statutory exceptions that fix the 
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trial venue of the Superior Court simultaneously serve to broaden a grand jury's 
jurisdictional authority as well. See, e.g., State v. True, 330 A.2d at 790 (Me. 1995) 
(addressing crimes committed within 100 rods of a county line (Title 15, section 3)) and 
State v. Chasse, 2002 ME 90, ~~ 7, 8, 797 A.2d 1262, 1264-65 (addressing crime of 
escape (Title 17-A, section 755, subsection 3-A))). 
The bill does the following. 
I. It defines grand jury territorial authority expressly, rather than in terms of trial 
venue for the Superior Court. 
2. 
It identifies the general rule applicable to grand jury jurisdiction. Grand jury 
territorial authority to indict for crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Superior 
Court must be exercised by the grand jury serving the county where the crime was 
committed. 
3. It introduces a new statutory exception relative to grand juries in judicial regions 
when such regions are created by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court for 
venue purposes, pursuant to Title 4, section 19. Specifically, it provides that each grand 
jury in a multicounty judicial region may share authority to indict for crimes committed 
in that judicial region except as limited by rule or administrative order of the Supreme 
Judicial Court. 
4. It expressly recognizes the existence of special laws that constitute exceptions to 
the general rule. 
The bill also amends Title 15, section 1256 to eliminate that portion that currently 
contains a definition of a grand jury's territorial jurisdiction, since the new section 
1255-A comprehensively addresses a grand jury's jurisdiction. The new language is 
intended to identify the basic duty imposed upon grand juries, which is to present all 
crimes over which by law they have jurisdiction.