Opinion ID: 1625408
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Right of Review of the Discharge

Text: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 432 states: After the oath is administered to the members of the grand jury, the judge shall charge them orally in open court upon their duties, rights and powers. Upon completion of the charge the judge shall give the grand jury a written copy of the charge. At any time thereafter, the judge, on his own initiative or on request of the grand jury, may give the grand jury additional charges concerning their duties, rights and powers. Such additional charges shall be given in open court, and a written copy thereof shall thereafter be given to the grand jury. This statute imposes an express duty on the judge to charge the grand jury immediately after it is impanelled with its rights, powers and duties. The bill of information charges Judge Leon with a violation of this duty because he intentionally did not inform the grand jury of its right to seek writs to the Louisiana Supreme Court under the provisions of La.R.S. 15:117. [4] As the judge has a duty to inform the jury of its rights and the bill of information charges the intentional failure to inform the jury of one of those rights, the bill of information charges Judge Leon with the violation of a duty imposed upon him by law which can serve as a basis for the malfeasance charges. Judge Leon may have a defense that his failure to charge the grand jury with this obscure right was justified. When the initial charge was given to the grand jury almost 1½ years before the jury discharged, there was no reason to contemplate that there would be a need for this particular instruction. However, as this is a defense, it should be considered at the trial on the merits and is not to be considered in determining if the bill of information charges the defendant with an offense punishable by law. Three provisions of Louisiana law provide that the district attorney is the legal advisor to the grand jury. La. Const. art. 5, § 26; La.R.S. 16:1 and La.C.Cr.P. art. 64. The state argues that as the legal advisor to the grand jury, the district attorney had a duty to inform the grand jury of its right to review of its discharge. The state contends that the oath of office requires that the district attorney perform his duties as legal advisor in an impartial manner and if Perez had been acting impartially, he would have informed the grand jury of its right to review. None of the provisions which provide that the district attorney is the legal advisor to the grand jury elaborate on what duties are imposed on him in that capacity. No provision of law requires that the district attorney inform the grand jury of its right of review by this court when prematurely discharged. For that matter, no positive provision of law requires the district attorney to inform the grand jury of any of its rights. In the instant case, the bill of information charges Perez with the failure to inform the grand jury of a specific right. Without some provision of law which sets forth what duties the district attorney has in his capacity as legal advisor to the grand jury, we cannot simply conclude after-thefact what specific things the defendant should have done in that capacity with respect to this additional grand jury. The provisions of the law which state that the district attorney is the legal advisor to the grand jury cannot be used as the basis for charges of malfeasance because it cannot be said that they impose a duty lawfully required of the district attorney to inform the panel of its right of review when discharged prior to the expiration of its term. Therefore, the portion of the bill of information charging Leander Perez with malfeasance and conspiracy to commit malfeasance on this ground does not charge the defendant with an offense punishable under a valid statute. [5]