Opinion ID: 1841541
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: should the indictment have been quashed because of pre-trial publicity?

Text: Appellant argues his motion to quash the indictment should have been sustained because: (a) Prejudicial pre-indictment publicity; (b) Misconduct of the District Attorney in making statements concerning the investigation at the time the grand jury was in session; (c) Permitting the grand jury to hear hearsay evidence. Appellant cites one case in support of this assignment: State v. Owen, 156 Miss. 487, 126 So. 25 (1930). Two justices of the peace and a constable had been investigated independently by the Forrest County Bar Association for extortions allegedly committed by them as public officials. The Bar made a written report highly critical of these officials' conduct, and two of the leading members of the Forrest County Bar appeared before the grand jury and while there gave copies of the report to the grand jurors. The circuit judge quashed the indictment subsequently returned against these officials, and we affirmed. The integrity of a grand jury must be jealously guarded. It is, however, invasion of the inner sanctum which courts scrupulously guard against. Thus, in State v. Owen , it was not the wide-spread publicity which we condemned, but prominent attorneys, who were not witnesses, going before the grand jury with a report of an independent investigation by the local Bar. Again, in Sanders v. State, 198 Miss. 587, 22 So.2d 500 (1945), we condemned a circuit judge, during the absence of the district attorney performing the latter's duties before the grand jury. For cases involving improper persons in the grand jury room, see also Welch v. State, 68 Miss. 341, 8 So. 673 (1890); State v. Barnett, 98 Miss. 812, 54 So. 313 (1911); Stampley v. State, 284 So.2d 305 (Miss. 1973). In Price v. State, 152 Miss. 625, 120 So. 751 (1929), friends and relatives of the deceased victim petitioned the grand jury to indict the defendant, but none appeared in person before the grand jury. We there recognized grand juries are governed by different rules than trial juries. Grand jurors are not sequestered as trial jurors, are free to disburse for lunch and go home in the evenings. They are not questioned prior to being chosen as to whether they have leaning or bias in any of the particular cases about to be investigated. In Price, supra at 756: It is to be recognized that a person is not to be presented by coercion by a grand jury or by undue influence and misconduct, but before an indictment is quashed, it should clearly appear that the grand jury did not perform its duties fairly and impartially, and with due regard for the public welfare, but that they were subjected to such influence and improper conduct as makes it clearly appear that the indictment was coerced or improperly procured. Recently, in Mosley v. State, 396 So.2d 1015 (1981), we addressed this question. The defendant made a motion to quash the indictment because the grand jury room was adjacent to the district attorney's office and the grand jurors passed through the district attorney's reception office in going to their room, and the grand jurors had coffee and snacks in the reception office in the presence of the secretary and aides. The motion charged the district attorney's office exercised undue influence upon the grand jurors. The circuit judge refused to quash the indictment; we affirmed. While critizing this arrangement, suggesting the grand jury room be moved to other quarters, and admonishing circuit judges in their deliberations, we did not deem the evidence showed there had been undue influence upon the grand jury. In this case there was a wide-spread and, no doubt, intense public interest in the district attorney's investigation of the Board of Supervisors of Jackson County. The newspapers and television made repeated reference to the on-going investigation. In all this publicity, however, there was no attempt to try this particular case either by the law enforcement agencies or the news media. We do not have an accused's confession being shown on television or a district attorney appearing on the courthouse steps and telling the world what a villain he is about to prosecute. [16] We do have a case of widespread and prolonged dissemination of newsprint and broadcast of the investigation into county affairs and in which we have no reason to doubt an overwhelming majority of citizens of Jackson County were quite interested. As to the allegation of misconduct by the district attorney in the grand jury room, there is nothing in this record to show this official did anything improper. A patient trial judge permitted a prolonged, wide-ranging examination of the district attorney, which was of no benefit whatever to the defendants. The profert of evidence the appellant complains of the court excluding was offered by another attorney representing another client. There is nothing to show it had anything to do with this case. [17] We have examined numerous cases in which pre-trial publicity was alleged to have prejudiced a defendant. In all these cases, however, the defendant claimed he had been denied a fair trial, and that the trial jury had been prejudiced. In this case no claim is made that the enormous pre-trial publicity affected the outcome of appellant's trial, only the grand jury. It would certainly appear that the same pre-trial publicity which affected a grand jury would also infect proposed trial jurors. Yet no motion for a change of venue was made. Indeed, no record was made of the voir dire of the petit jury panel. No claim being made that the trial jury was prejudiced by pre-trial publicity, it seems illogical to us that a claim would be made that the grand jury was prejudiced. The numerous cases which have addressed pre-trial publicity have examined its effect on trial jurors, not a grand jury, and in all cases in which appellate courts have reversed a conviction because of pre-trial publicity, none has been called to our attention in which the appellate court also nullified the indictment. We are not called upon in this case to decide whether the degree of pre-trial publicity which denies a defendant of due process in his trial would also subject the indictment to challenge. We do not propose to reach the question of whether a grand jury is governed by the same standards as a petit jury regarding pre-trial publicity. Under no standard, however, was the appellant denied due process by the pre-trial publicity in this case. See: Tubbs v. State, 402 So.2d 830 (Miss. 1981), p. 837; Snowden v. State, 356 So.2d 1143 (1978), p. 1144; Stevenson v. State, 325 So.2d 113 (Miss. 1975), p. 118; Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 97 S.Ct. 2290, 53 L.Ed.2d 344, (1977) pp. 361-362; Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751, (1961); Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663, (1963), and see also annotation of cases on same subject beginning at page 1243. Finally, any claim that the indictment was based upon insufficient or incompetent evidence is clearly without merit. We have decided this question upon innumerable occassions. See: State v. Matthews, 218 So.2d 743 (Miss. 1969) and cases therein cited.