Opinion ID: 1894811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: failure to record instructions to the grand jury

Text: The defendant Gilbert argues that the indictment should have been dismissed as to him because there was a failure to record the instructions given to the grand jury as required by Rule 6(e). The short answer to this contention is that this court has consistently declined to apply a per-se rule of dismissal of an indictment for violations of Rule 6(e). State v. Fernandes, 526 A.2d 495, 501 (R.I. 1987); State v. Heredia, 493 A.2d 831, 834 (R.I. 1985). We have stated that dismissal as a sanction for an alleged irregularity during the grand jury proceeding is an extreme remedy that is unwarranted except in limited and very rare circumstances. State v. Wilshire, 509 A.2d 444, 448 (R.I. 1986). The principle enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 106 S.Ct. 938, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986), setting forth that when a subsequent petit jury convicts a defendant of the charges set forth in an indictment, any error in the grand jury proceeding connected with the charging decision is rendered harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, has been adopted and applied by this court. State v. Wilshire, 509 A.2d at 448. This principle is certainly applicable to the issue raised by defendant Gilbert since no discernible prejudice from this failure to record has been established. Consequently, the trial justice did not err in declining to dismiss the counts of the indictment that related to Gilbert.