Opinion ID: 1948183
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: quashing of subpoenas to the grand jurors

Text: On May 12, 1976, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment. The defendant claimed, inter alia, that the grand jury was selected in an unconstitutional manner, denying the defendant due process and equal protection under the law. The motion stated no factual basis for the claim. At a hearing on the motion, defense counsel questioned the sheriff of New Haven County at length about the method used to select the grand jury panel. The defense also subpoenaed each of the grand jurors from the panel to testify. The state moved to quash the subpoenas. In opposition to the motion to quash, defense counsel asserted a need to question the grand jurors about their background, race, and qualifications. He stated that he hoped to discover thereby whether this grand jury was a representative cross-section of the community, whether it was a blue-ribbon grand jury, and whether there had been intentional discrimination against some class of persons, possibly professional people or attorneys. The court granted the motion to quash the subpoenas. There is no constitutional requirement that members of the grand jury be selected in any particular manner. The constitutional guarantee merely forbids any intentional discrimination against race or class. Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 73 S. Ct. 397, 97 L. Ed. 469 [1953]; Akins v. Texas, 325 U.S. 398, 65 S. Ct. 1276, 89 L. Ed. 1692 [1945]. State v. Cobbs, 164 Conn. 402, 409, 324 A.2d 234, cert. denied, 414 U.S. 861, 94 S. Ct. 77, 38 L. Ed. 2d 112 (1973). To prevail on a claim of grand jury discrimination, the challenger must demonstrate that there was an intentional and systematic exclusion of a constitutionally cognizable group. Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 565, 99 S. Ct. 2993, 61 L. Ed. 2d 739 (1979); Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 494, 97 S. Ct. 1272, 51 L. Ed. 2d 498 (1977); see generally State v. Villafane, 164 Conn. 637, 644-51, 325 A.2d 251 (1973). Random selection is not required; State v. Villafane, supra, 644; State v. Cobbs, supra; nor does every identifiable class or race need to be represented. State v. Cobbs, supra, 409. Counsel for the defendant made no attempt to lay a foundation for the general allegations in the defendant's motion to dismiss. When questioned by the court, he admitted he could be accused of being on a fishing expedition and was unable to say what class was being discriminated against. Defense counsel also indicated that he did not intend to limit his inquiry to discrimination, but rather hoped to pursue a general investigation into the selection of grand jurors. Although an investigator was retained by the defense, he was never called to testify. Nor was the sheriff questioned about systematic exclusion of jurors. The defense presented neither evidence nor affidavits which indicated that the defendant had a viable claim. A defendant has a right to challenge an improperly selected grand jury. More than a bare assertion that the system used was discriminatory, however, is required to overcome the presumption that the grand jury was selected in a proper manner. State v. Cobbs, supra, 408-409; State v. Davis, 158 Conn. 341, 345, 260 A.2d 587, remanded for resentencing, 408 U.S. 935, 92 S. Ct. 2856, 33 L. Ed. 2d 750 (1969). In addition, before a court will permit a full-scale interrogation of the jury panel, a defendant must show, by some independent evidence, that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the panel is improperly constituted. This does not, of course, require that the challenge show that the panel is improperly constituted; but what it does require is that the challenger assert facts that tend to raise a doubt as to whether the panel may be improperly constituted. Then follows the inquiry to see if such suspicion, duly alleged, is supported by proof. To require a full-scale investigation of the grand jury panel solely upon a mere assertion, not supported by so much as an affidavit ... that the panel was improperly drawn, would be to open every grand jury panel, no matter how perfectly impartial and representative, to a full-scale investigationor perhaps more accurately, to a fishing expedition of broad range. Such a course would consume enormous amounts of time and energy of our already overburdened trial courts, with concomitant delays in their calendars, and would be especially injurious to the prompt disposition of justice. (Emphasis in original.) Rojas v. State, 288 So. 2d 234, 237 (Fla. 1973). The trial court correctly granted the state's motion to quash the subpoenas.