Opinion ID: 1472872
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Concurrent use of materials

Text: It is the contention of the appellants that they produced sufficient evidence of concurrent use of materials gained through criminal investigation so that the court supervising the grand jury either should have held a hearing to determine the boundaries of production or, in the alternative, should have established prophylactic devices to guard against concurrent use of any information produced to the grand jury. It is contended that even if production of documents were required that the court should inquire further and delimit the production or regulate it to assure that the production did not result in concurrent use of the materials produced. The trial judge who heard the motion said to an assistant Attorney General in the course of the hearing: You should be advised that you cannot under the law turn any of the information you receive through the Grand Jury subpoena over to anyone else for any purpose and you should direct the people in your office if they should happen to come in contact with it. He later said in making his ruling: I think there's a clear understanding that nothing that goes before this Grand Jury shall be divulged to anybody, and if it is, then I think if you got any reason to believe that anything by virtue of this subpoena is divulged, then I think you have a perfect right to come back here and bring that party before the Court and have them  and have the Court determine whether they have violated the confidentiality of the Grand Jury. I think that's perfectly clear. There's no question about that. So, I think they have given you that assurance. Whether it holds up I think they ought to regulate the people that work under them to that extent and make it perfectly clear what the Court has said in this case. Code (1974, 1980 Repl. Vol.) § 8-401 (e), Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article provides:  Disclosure of grand jury proceedings.  A person who discloses the contents of any grand jury proceeding, except for persons authorized by law to make such disclosures, is subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. The Attorney General has opined, 60 Op. Att'y Gen. 290, 292 (1975), that the prohibition in § 8-401 (e) must be construed as applying only to `persons selected as grand jurors.' We agree. Grand jury secrecy is well established in Maryland. For instance, in Coblentz v. State, 164 Md. 558, 166 A. 45 (1933), this Court reversed a conviction because of the presence in the grand jury room of an unauthorized individual in the person of an attorney representing certain plaintiffs in civil litigation against the banking institution of which the defendant was president. The latter was accused of accepting a deposit when the institution was, to his knowledge, insolvent. No evidence has been presented of any violation of grand jury secrecy in connection with this investigation. We see no reason to assume that somebody at sometime in connection with this investigation may violate the established procedures. When that violation takes place appropriate action can then be taken.