Opinion ID: 71082
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: DEA Report.

Text: The DEA Report stated: 45 Kelly advised S/A Serna on the phone that they probably couldn't do anything right now, referring to the package [of cocaine] (emphasis added). 46 Kelly points out that his exact words, recorded secretly, were I don't think we can do anything, but I'll meet with you and explain. He argues that the inclusion of the words right now materially alters his meaning and was a deliberate and malicious attempt to mislead the grand jury as to his involvement in the conspiracy. 47 We are not sanguine about the inclusion of the words right now in the report. Their inclusion lends some support to the inference that Kelly was willing to engage in criminal behavior, albeit if not right now. We do not agree, however, that their inclusion materially alters the meaning of his statement--action is unlikely, but not impossible. Therefore, Kelly has not carried his burden of showing fraud in the Report. 48 Kelly also alleges that an agent's testimony to the grand jury that in his opinion Kelly was acting as a barrier for his client and using his attorney-client privilege as something to hide behind, corrupted the proceeding because it was false and highly prejudicial. An expression of opinion as opinion to the grand jury, however, does not mislead or materially misstate evidence. Cf. Hylton v. American Ass'n for Vocational Instructional Materials, Inc., 214 Ga.App. 635, 448 S.E.2d 741 (1994). 49 Although we have reversed Kelly's conviction for insufficiency of the evidence, we do not find that probable cause for his prosecution was absent. The grand jury indictment's prima facie evidence of probable cause has not been rebutted by a showing of specific evidence that there was deliberate and malicious fraud perpetrated on the grand jury to induce them to indict Kelly.