Court Opinion

ID: 9792385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:28:36.719483+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:42.474562
License: Public Domain

SOSA, Senior Justice, dissenting. I respectfully dissent. I agree with Judge Donnelly’s opinion in the Court of Appeals that the appellant had a right to testify before the grand jury, that the state has not established a waiver of that right, and that the authority to deny a target witness’s request to testify before a grand jury that is in session does not, in this instance, rest with the prosecutor. The requirement of NMSA 1978, Section 31 — 6—11(B) (Cum.Supp.1982), that a target witness shall be given an opportunity to testify before the grand jury if he so desires is mandatory except in certain specified circumstances that are concededly not present here. Rogers v. State, 94 N.M. 218, 608 P.2d 530 (Ct.App.1980). This statutory right has been jealously guarded by our courts. In New Mexico a witness who testifies before a grand jury and subsequently becomes the focus of an investigation is entitled to testify again because he would otherwise be deprived of his right to testify in his capacity as a target witness. State v. Gonzales, 96 N.M. 513, 632 P.2d 748 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 96 N.M. 543, 632 P.2d 1181 (1981). The district attorney is required to exercise reasonable diligence in complying with the statute. Rogers, 94 N.M. 218, 608 P.2d 530. Furthermore, the prosecutor has an obligation to protect the rights of the accused as well as the public interest, State v. Hill, 88 N.M. 216, 539 P.2d 236 (Ct.App.1975), and is required to conduct himself in a fair and impartial manner. NMSA 1978, § 31-6-7 (Cum.Supp.1982). I do not believe that the prosecutor’s behavior in allowing the witness only ten seconds in which to decide whether to testify or not and in refusing the witness’s request to testify a few moments later, after only one other witness had appeared before the grand jury, was reasonable, fair, or necessary for the protection of the public interest. “The grand jury is not, and should not be, the tool of the prosecuting attorney to manipulate at will.” Davis v. Traub, 90 N.M. 498, 500, 565 P.2d 1015, 1017 (1977). For this Court to accede to such conduct on the part of a prosecutor is to authorize and, indeed, to invite the district attorney to use the grand jury as a tool of the prosecution. For the above reasons, I respectfully dissent.