Opinion ID: 1820620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Is the indictment invalid?

Text: Appellant contends that the indictment in this case is void because it was returned in August by a grand jury which had been impaneled in January following an intervening term of court. Appellant relies upon Ingram v. State, 330 So.2d 602 (Miss. 1976), in which this Court stated: [A] grand jury empanelled may not serve after the intervention of a succeeding term of circuit court unless (1) the intervening term is designated for civil business only, or unless (2) the intervening term is one where the judge is specifically given discretion in the matter of empaneling a grand jury, and a new grand jury is not empanelled. The discretion given a circuit judge by Section 13-5-39 to empanel only two grand juries in any given year does not satisfy the requirements of exception (2) in this paragraph. 330 So.2d at 605. Appellant argues that the case at bar does not fall within any of the exceptions recognized in Ingram. Miss. Code Ann. § 9-7-39 (1972) sets the terms of the circuit court for the Fourteenth District. This statute was amended in March of 1973 to specifically reserve the June term of Circuit Court in Lincoln County for civil business only, as follows: Lincoln: On the second Monday of January, three (3) weeks, and the second Monday of June, for civil business only, four (4) weeks and the first Monday of September, four (4) weeks. 1973 Miss. Laws, Ch. 360. In 1983, the statute was revised to eliminate the civil business only provision with respect to the June term of Circuit Court in Lincoln County. This legislative revision, however, did not take effect until July 1, 1983. See Miss. Code Ann. § 9-7-39 (Supp. 1984). The grand jury in this case was impaneled in January, 1983. The intervening June term of court was held while the old statute was in effect limiting by law that term to civil business only. Therefore, the indictment in the case sub judice falls within the civil business only exception recognized by this Court in Ingram. This assignment of error is without merit.