Court Opinion

ID: 9695904
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:31:07.848901+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:17.263170
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice
(dissenting).
I must respectfully dissent. The Constitution of the United States does not require that a state utilize the procedure of indictment by a grand jury when it prosecutes a criminal action against one of its citizens; nor does the substitution of a proceeding by information for the indictment method violate due process of law.1 I would therefore have no difficulty if the Pennsylvania Constitution had been amended so as to abolish the indicting grand jury altogether. An issue of grave public importance emerges, however, when a state creates a *135scheme such as that now contained in Article I, section 10 of the Pennsylvania Constitution which exposes persons accused of an indictable offense to arguably different treatment, depending upon whether the forum county has opted2 to dispense with the grand jury. We have acknowledged the importance of the issue by our assumption of plenary jurisdiction in the case at bar.3 Thus, we must proceed with great caution in evaluating appellant’s claim that our new constitutional scheme is violative of the Equal Protection Clause of the Federal Constitution.
The key premise of the Court’s holding is that “in Pennsylvania today the indicting grand jury affords no comparative advantages to those accused of crime.” (Majority opinion ante at 917.) It is entirely true that if, in fact, there exists no qualitative difference between presentment by indictment and information, then there occurs no disparate treatment of citizens of this Commonwealth, and any equal protection argument is, therefore, muted. What is glaringly apparent in the Court’s opinion, however, is the absolute dearth of empirical data upon which the bold and confident assertion quoted above may be grounded. Neither the record before us nor the briefs of the parties offer any assistance of this nature. The majority has referred to the writings of several scholars in which the opinion has been expressed that the grand jury no longer serves its historic and ideal function of a buffer between the accused and the *136state. Indeed, there seems to be general agreement that the classic role of the grand jury has been subject to serious erosion in recent years. But none of the authors referred to by the majority, unfortunately, has supported his conclusions with empirical evidence upon which to ground today’s decision. For example, the observation upon which the Court places reliance that “ [a] ny experienced prosecutor will admit that he can indict anybody at any time for almost anything before any grand jury” appears to be simply that — an unsubstantiated observation. See Campbell, Delays in Criminal Cases, 55 F.R.D. 229, 253 (1972). See also Rosenberg, The Indicting Function of the Grand Jury Should Be Abolished, 42 Pa.Bar Q. 31 (1970); Antell, The Modern Grand Jury: Benighted Supergovernment, 51 A.B.A.J. 153 (1965).
It may well be that these doubts concerning the efficacy of the grand jury indictment system are well-founded.4 *137It has been reported, for instance, that in 1968, grand juries in Philadelphia County returned indictments in 98% of the instances in which bills of indictment were presented by the District Attorney. Cavanaugh & Meredith, Trial Delay and the Grand Jury, The Shingle, vol. 33, pp. 213, 215 (1970), citing the 1968 report of the Philadelphia District Attorney. It may also be true, as the majority concludes, that the device of the preliminary hearing which, in Pennsylvania, must precede either an indictment or an information provides a screening mechanism which serves as a shield of equal strength for all those accused of crime against the actions of an over-zealous prosecutor. One wonders, however, how much reliance can properly be placed on this assumption when one considers the records of the Office of the District Attorney of Allegheny County. They reveal that in the first 4 months of 1975 approximately 3200 bills of indictment were presented to the grand jury. Of those, nearly 400, or approximately 12½%, were rejected by that body. The conclusion which may reasonably be drawn from these figures is that in Allegheny County, in a period of 4 months, 400 persons benefited from being proceeded against by indictment; that is to say, in that period 400 citizens of the Commonwealth who were provided with the opportunity of two screening devices benefited therefrom by being discharged without having to stand trial. This is of course a scanty sampling upon which to base a conclusion that a real and not merely a theoretical difference exists between the indictment and information procedures, and I do not presume to offer such a conclusion here. These data do, however, create an uncomfortable suspicion that strong empirical evidence is essential before we can conclude with assurance that the grand juries as they operate in the sixty-seven *138counties of Pennsylvania are mere “rubber stamps”, the impotent tools of the prosecutor. In the absence of such evidence the majority’s premise is questionable and so, a fortiori, is its ultimate conclusion.
The equal protection claim presented by the appellant, who sought and was denied review by a grand jury as a prelude to being held for court trial on the felony with which he was charged, cannot, I think, be decided in a vacuum. Facts are the indispensable ingredient in the decision of any litigation, and are of course particularly essential where constitutional issues are at stake. The record and briefs before us being devoid of any experiential facts against which grand jury operation in Pennsylvania can be tested, any decision by this Court at this time is, in my view, premature. In view of the public importance which attaches to this case, I would vacate the order appealed from and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings at which the now missing information can be developed, with leave to either party thereafter to appeal again directly to this Court.

. Hurtado v. People of California, 110 U.S. 516, 4 S.Ct. 111, 122, 28 L.Ed. 232, 239 (1884). “ . . . [W]e are unable to say that the substitution for a presentment or indictment by a grand jury of the proceeding by information, after examination and commitment by a magistrate, certifying to the probable guilt of the defendant with the right on his part to the aid of counsel, and to the cross-examination of the witnesses produced for the prosecution, is not due process of law.”

. While the exercise of this option is conditioned upon approval of this Court, the constitutional amendment under review contains no guidelines or criteria to indicate the reasons for which this Court should grant or withhold approval.

. Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, art. II, § 205, 17 P.S. § 211.205 (Supp.1974).
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Supreme Court may, on its own motion or upon petition of any party, in any matter pending before any court or justice of the peace of this Commonwealth involving an issue of immediate public importance, assume plenary jurisdiction of such matter at any stage thereof and enter a final order or otherwise cause right and justice to be done.”

. There is much to be said in support of the view that the grand jury system has become an anachronism. It has, of course, long been viewed as “ . . . one of the securities to the innocent against hasty, malicious, and oppressive public prosecutions ...” Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516, 522, 4 S.Ct. 111, 114, 28 L.Ed. 232, 234 (1884) quoting Jones v. Robbins, 74 Mass. 329 (1857). At the time the system was initially structured to effectuate this noble function, however, the role of the prosecutor was substantially more restricted than it is today. Indeed, the prosecutor was not permitted to be present in the room in which grand jury proceedings were conducted. Schwartz, Demythologizing the Historic Role of the Grand Jury, 10 Am.Crim.L.R. 701, 758, n. 291 (1972). It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the more visible and significant role of the modern prosecutor vis a vis the grand jury has operated to erode in some measure the treasured autonomy of that body. Beyond this, it has been argued that, in view of the thousands of cases which, in a heavily populated metropolitan area, a particular grand jury is required to consider during its term, it is doubtful that every case can be scrutinized and evaluated as it deserves. Cavanaugh & Meredith, Trial Delay and the Grand Jury, The Shingle, vol. 33, pp. 213, 215 (1970). Considerations such as these provide persuasive ground for substantial reform of the grand jury indictment procedure, and perhaps for its complete abolition. The fact remains, however, that until it can be said with reasonable certainty that the system is wholly ineffectual, we cannot avoid the conclusion that under the present constitutional scheme in Pennsylvania *137persons who are accused of otherwise indictable offenses may be accorded different treatment depending upon the fortuitous circumstance of the place where criminal proceedings are initiated.