Court Opinion

ID: 9363360
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-13 22:07:36.175533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:31.473215
License: Public Domain

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
WESTERN DISTRICT

IN RE: APPLICATION OF JOSH SHAPIRO, : No. 1WM 2023
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,

REQUESTING AN ORDER DIRECTING

THAT A SUCCESSOR MULTICOUNTY

INVESTIGATING GRAND JURY HAVING

STATEWIDE JURISDICTION BE

CONVENED

ORDER

 

AND NOW, this 13'" day of January, 2023, upon consideration of the Application
for an Order Directing that a Successor Multicounty Investigating Grand Jury Having
Statewide Jurisdiction be Convened, and as it appears that granting the Application is
appropriate under the Investigating Grand Jury Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 4541 ef seq., it is
hereby ORDERED as follows:

1. The Application, requesting that an additional multicounty investigating
grand jury having statewide jurisdiction (“Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury”)
be convened, is hereby GRANTED.

2. The Honorable Anthony M. Mariani, Fifth Judicial District, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania, is hereby designated as Supervising Judge of the Fifty-First
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury. All applications and motions relating to the work of
the Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury — including motions for disclosure of
grand jury transcripts and evidence — shall be presented to the Supervising Judge. With
respect to investigations, presentments, reports, and all other proper activities of the Fifty-

First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, Judge Mariani, as Supervising Judge, shall have
jurisdiction over all counties throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Judge
Mariani may temporarily designate another jurist who has been appointed by this Court
as the Supervising Judge of a multicounty investigating grand jury having statewide
jurisdiction to serve as Acting Supervising Judge of the Fifty-First Statewide Investigating
Grand Jury when Judge Mariani is absent or otherwise unavailable.

3. Allegheny County is designated as the location for the Fifty-First Statewide
Investigating Grand Jury proceedings.

4. The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania is directed to draw six counties at
random from the Western District of Pennsylvania pursuant to the provisions of Rule 241
(A)(1) and 241(C)(4) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, and these six
counties, plus Allegheny, shall together supply jurors for the Fifty-First Statewide
Investigating Grand Jury.

5. The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania is directed to obtain the names
and addresses of persons residing in the aforesaid counties who are eligible by law to
serve as grand jurors pursuant to the provisions of Rule 241(A)(2) of the Pennsylvania
Rules of Criminal Procedure.

6. The total of such names of prospective jurors to be collected shall be 200,
of which 50 shall be selected at random and summoned by the Court Administrator of
Pennsylvania to Allegheny County. The Supervising Judge shall impanel the Fifty-First
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury from this panel of 50 prospective jurors. If it becomes
necessary, additional prospective jurors shall be summoned by the Supervising Judge

from among the remaining 150 prospective jurors.

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7. The Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury will remain in session for
not more than 18 months following the date that it is impaneled by the Supervising Judge.

8. The Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or the
Attorney General's designee in charge of the Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand
Jury, if necessary, may apply to the Supervising Judge for an extension of the term of the
Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury for an additional period of up to six months,
if, at the end of its original term, the Investigating Grand Jury determines by majority vote
that it has not completed its business. The Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand
Jury’s term, including any extension thereof, shall not exceed 24 months from the date it
was originally impaneled by the Supervising Judge.

9, The Supervising Judge shall maintain control of transcripts and evidence,
as provided by Rule 229 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. The
Supervising Judge shall determine the manner and location with respect to storage of
transcripts. The Supervising Judge shall control disclosure of matters occurring before
the Fifty-First Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, as provided by 42 Pa.C.S. § 4549.

10. The Supervising Judge shall have the same duties and powers relating to
maintaining grand jury secrecy with respect to each expired multicounty investigating
grand jury having statewide jurisdiction that had convened in Allegheny County or any

other county identified in Rule 241(C)(4) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.

bile, Tedd

DEBRATODD
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania

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