Opinion ID: 1344889
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: expungement: the courts and the grand jury

Text: ¶ 15 In Burke v. Territory, 2 Okla. 499, 37 P. 829 (Okla.1894), the Court held that a trial court has authority to require that a grand jury report be in the proper statutory form before it can be filed. There, the grand jury returned a report which contained matter entirely foreign to the subject of said report and return, which foreign matter cast mere reflections upon certain individuals and persons. Id. at 830. The trial court reviewed the report before releasing it, and found it to contain this improper material. This action was criticized by a local newspaper. The newspaper and several individuals were held in contempt and were fined. The fines were upheld, because this Court determined that the trial court's actions were not only proper but necessary: This matter was before the court for its consideration.... The fact that the court afterwards determined that the return or presentment, or report of the grand jury could not be received gave the court nonetheless jurisdiction of the matter, and made it nonetheless a matter pending in court ... There was nothing improper or unusual in the court's taking time to consider whether an instrument presented by the grand jury should be accepted by the court. The court is not bound to receive and accept from the grand jury everything which it may present. One of the legal and judicial steps to be taken before any return of the grand jury becomes an indictment, accusation, or report is that it must be presented to and received by the court; and the court has a right, before accepting and receiving it, to return it to the grand jury, or to receive it, as the court thinks proper. This is required judicial action. ... Id. at 836 (emphasis added). Thus, under the long-standing rule of Burke, a trial court has authority to refuse a report of a grand jury or to require that it be submitted in the proper form. ¶ 16 Burke is not determinative of the present case, because here the trial court accepted the report without requiring that it be in statutory form. But it is informative insofar as it explained that a trial court has authority over a grand jury report. The failure to exercise Burke -type authority here has resulted in the plaintiffs being accused of willful and improper conduct without having any avenue by which to confront their accusers. It is exactly this concern which caused the landmark case of Wood v. Hughes, 9 N.Y.2d 144, 212 N.Y.S.2d 33, 173 N.E.2d 21 (1961), to explain the necessity of a trial court's review of a grand jury report: [T]he grand jury may not, under cover of the power to inquire, employ a report to accuse an individual of misconduct or laxity in public office any more than it may do so to charge him with misbehavior in private life. The grand jury's historic function, as embodied in our statute, is to determine whether there is evidence establishing the commission of a crime. If there is such evidence, the grand jury ought to find an indictment. If, however, there is no such evidence, it must dismiss the charges or remain silent ... A grand jury report which is a judicial document obviously differs radically from newspaper charges of misconduct carries the same sense of authoritative condemnation as an indictment does, without however, according the accused the benefit of the protections accorded to one who is indicted. Id. 212 N.Y.S.2d 33, 173 N.E.2d at 25-26, (emphasis added). See also Kuh, The Grand Jury Presentment: Foul Blow or Fair Play, 55 Colum. L.Rev. 1103 (1955). ¶ 17 Although never before addressed by this Court, other states have held that a court has the authority to expunge a grand jury report, or parts thereof, which do not conform with statutory or constitutional mandates. For example in Ex Parte Robinson, 231 Ala. 503, 165 So. 582 (1936), the Alabama Supreme Court held that a trial court had the power to expunge a grand jury report which contained criticisms of official acts of a city commissioner, but did not contain any indictments. The court stated that if a indictment is not returned, fairness requires the grand jury to remain silent. Id. 165 So. at 583. The court concluded that the criticized city official had a clear right to expungement of the report. Id. See also Bennett v. Kalamazoo Circuit Judge, 183 Mich. 200, 150 N.W. 141 (1914), (prosecuting attorney had right to expungement of grand jury report that contained criticizing information but did not contain an indictment or formal charge); In re Grand Jury Report, Petition of Williams, 204 Wis. 409, 235 N.W. 789 (1931), (grand jury report which contained criticism without a formal charge was not authorized and should be stricken). ¶ 18 In Barber v. Interim Report of the Grand Jury Spring Term 1995, 689 So.2d 1182 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1997), the grand jury filed a report which contained statements about a police officer. The report stated that the officer's shooting of a citizen was not criminal but was perhaps the result of negligence and bad judgment. The report did not indict the officer. The officer sought to have these statements expunged from the report. A Florida statute required that the report be kept confidential until the individual had opportunity to request expungement. In discussing the purpose of the statute, the Florida court stated that [t]he policy behind the statute is to give a person not charged with a crime the chance to prevent the publication of `improper and unlawful' material: [W]hile one charged with the commission of a crime as a result of [the grand jury] process has a full opportunity for public clarification of misleading data and personal vindication through a public trial, no comparable means of vindication exists for one whose character is impugned in a report unaccompanied by indictment. Id. at 1184, quoting, Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Marko, 352 So.2d 518, 520-21 (Fla.1977). ¶ 19 This same policy is expressly stated in our statute: to preserve to every person the right to meet his accusers in a court of competent jurisdiction and be heard, in open court, in his defense. 22 O.S.1991 § 346. Our courts have the right and the duty to review the grand jury report before its filing. If it is not in the proper form because it contains unauthorized accusations, the court has a duty to expunge such material in order to safeguard the individual's rights of confrontation. When, as here, the trial court fails to do so, it may upon Petition for Writ of Mandamus do so, and if it does not this Court may require expungement so as to conform with the statute. ¶ 20 Upon review of the grand jury report, we direct that portions hereinafter listed be expunged from the report: The second of three paragraphs in Section XI, (h); subparagraphs (o) and (p) of Section XII; and the sentence following Section XII(p). ¶ 21 The opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals is vacated, the judgment of the District Court is reversed, and this matter is remanded to the District Court of Pittsburg County with direction to expunge the portions of the grand jury report as required by this opinion. ¶ 22 KAUGER, C.J., LAVENDER, SIMMS, HARGRAVE, ALMA WILSON, and WATT, JJ., concur. ¶ 23 OPALA, J., concurs in part, dissents in part. ¶ 24 HODGES, J., dissents.