Court Opinion

ID: 9531527
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:12:41.418658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:30.250820
License: Public Domain

NOYES, Judge,
dissenting:
I.
A.
The majority creates a per se evidentiary rule for grand jury proceedings. Henceforth, the State must comply in the grand jury with the rule of evidence announced in State v. Treadaway, 116 Ariz. 163, 568 P.2d 1061 (1977). The fundamental flaw in the majority’s analysis is this: In Arizona, rules of evidence do not apply to grand jury proceedings. See Ariz.R.Evid. 1101(d) (“The rules [of evidence] (other than with respect to privileges) do not apply to proceedings before grand juries.”); see also Franzi v. Superior Ct., 139 Ariz. 556, 565, 679 P.2d 1043, 1052 (1984) (“[H]earsay evidence in a grand jury proceeding is not objectionable.”); State ex rel. Berger v. Myers, 108 Ariz. 248, 250, 495 P.2d 844, 846 (1972) (“In pursuing its investigations, the grand jury is not bound to act on the customary rules of evidence.”).
Arizona joins the federal courts and eighteen other state courts in expressly declining to apply rules of evidence to the grand jury. See Sara S. Beale & William C. Bryson, Grand Jury Law and Practice § 6:07 n. 14 (1986). These courts do not inquire into the sufficiency or admissibility of evidence presented to the grand jury. Id.; see, e.g., State v. Cousino, 18 Ariz.App. 158, 160, 500 P.2d 1146, 1148 (1972) (citing Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956), for the proposition that a grand jury may consider hearsay testimony); Myers, 108 Ariz. at 250, 495 P.2d at 846 (citing Application of United States, 427 F.2d 1140, 1142 (5th Cir.1970), for the proposition that a grand jury may consider illegally-obtained wiretap evidence); see also Annotation, Grand Jury: Admission of Hearsay Evidence Incompetent at Trial as Affecting, in Absence of Statutory Regulation, Validity of Indictment or Conviction, 37 A.L.R.3d 612, 616 § 3(a) (1971) (citing numerous cases upholding the validity of an indictment based on hearsay evidence alone).
B.
Arizona courts cannot consider “an attack on an indictment based on the nature, weight or sufficiency of the evidence presented to the grand jury.” Crimmins v. Superior Ct., 137 Ariz. 39, 42-43, 668 P.2d 882, 885-86 (1983) (citation omitted); see Cousino, 18 Ariz.App. at 159-60, 500 P.2d at 1147-48. This clear authority notwithstanding, the majority has granted an attack on an indictment because it finds that certain evidence presented to the grand jury is “irrelevant as a matter of law.” Majority op. at 522, 523, 862 P.2d at 895, 896.
While conceding that there is no Arizona authority directly on point, the majority suggests that three cases support its holding: State ex rel. Collins v. Superior Ct., *524161 Ariz. 392, 778 P.2d 1288 (App.1989), People v. Lobianco, 126 Misc.2d 519, 483 N.Y.S.2d 145 (Sup.Ct.1984), and United States v. Hogan, 712 F.2d 757 (2d Cir.1983). See Majority op. at 522, 862 P.2d at 895. These cases do not support the majority. Collins refused to apply to the grand jury a rule requiring a bifurcated trial when certain evidence was presented; this case supports the proposition that evidentiary rules do not apply to grand jury proceedings. See 161 Ariz. at 394, 778 P.2d at 1290. Lobianco is from New York, a jurisdiction that, unlike Arizona, does apply the rules of evidence to grand jury proceedings. See Beale & Bryson, supra, § 6:07 n. 4 and accompanying text. Hogan penalized the government for numerous instances of serious prosecutorial misconduct; misconduct is not an issue in this case.
C.
The majority recognizes that its holding must be based on due process, not on a rule of evidence. Due process in grand jury proceedings was succinctly discussed by the United States Supreme Court in Costello: “An indictment returned by a legally constituted and unbiased grand jury, ... if valid on its face, is enough to call for trial of the charge on the merits. The Fifth Amendment requires nothing more.” 350 U.S. at 363, 76 S.Ct. at 409 (footnote omitted).
The Costello articulation has been adopted in Arizona. “[W]hen a duly constituted grand jury returns an indictment valid on its face, no independent inquiry may be made to determine the kind of evidence considered by the grand jury in making its decision.” State v. Jacobson, 22 Ariz.App. 128, 129, 524 P.2d 962, 963 (1974); accord State ex rel. Preimsberg v. Rosenblatt, 112 Ariz. 461, 462, 543 P.2d 773, 774 (1975); State v. Guerrero, 119 Ariz. 273, 276, 580 P.2d 734, 737 (App.1978); State v. Superior Ct., 118 Ariz. 457, 459, 577 P.2d 743, 745 (App.1978).
Due process requires that the State make a fair and impartial presentation of evidence to the grand jury. See Franzi, 139 Ariz. at 565, 679 P.2d at 1052; State v. Superior Ct., 139 Ariz. 422, 425, 678 P.2d 1386, 1389 (1984); Crimmins, 137 Ariz. at 41, 668 P.2d at 884; State v. Emery, 131 Ariz. 493, 506, 642 P.2d 838, 851 (1982). Determinations of fairness and impartiality are resolved on a case-by-case basis. See Crimmins, 137 Ariz. at 44, 668 P.2d at 887 (Feldman, J., specially concurring) (“[W]hat is required to make a ‘fair presentation’ to the grand jury ... will vary from case to case.”) The trial court makes the initial determination regarding the State’s compliance with due process standards in the grand jury. This court cannot disturb the trial court’s ruling unless an abuse of discretion is shown. See State v. Hocker, 113 Ariz. 450, 454-55, 556 P.2d 784, 788-89 (1976); State v. Matlock, 109 Ariz. 193, 195, 507 P.2d 118, 120 (1973).
The trial court in this case recognized that introduction of irrelevant bad acts evidence could render grand jury proceedings less than fair and impartial. See also Guerrero, 119 Ariz. at 276, 580 P.2d at 737 (prosecutor cannot improperly attempt to influence the actions of the grand jury). The trial court found that the prior bad acts presented to the grand jury in this case were “not ones which are generally inadmissible” at trial and that, therefore, they were “relevant bad acts.” I find this ruling to be within the bounds of trial court discretion.
The Flagstaff allegations were that Petitioner had a long-term molestation relationship with a girl, beginning in her fifth-grade year, whose trust and confidence he had gained as her music teacher. The' Mesa prior bad acts were similar: allegations that Petitioner had a long-term molestation relationship with a girl, beginning in her eighth-grade year, whose trust and confidence he had gained as her band teacher. Although the Mesa evidence might be inadmissible at trial if for no other reason than remoteness in time, an argument for admissibility can be made with reference to State v. Weatherbee, 158 Ariz. 303, 762 P.2d 590 (App.1988), in which sexual misconduct from twenty years prior was held admissible under the emotional propensity exception. At trial, of course, the State will *525have to comply with the Treadaway rule or persuade the trial court of some other theory of admissibility.
At the grand jury stage of the proceedings, one can only speculate about the evidence to be offered at trial and how it is to be offered. Admissibility of evidence at trial depends greatly on context, and that context is developed by adversaries in compliance with evidentiary rules and trial court rulings. Before ruling on the admissibility of evidence at trial, the trial court will know the context in which the issue is to be decided; at the grand jury stage of proceedings, that context does not yet exist, and there is no need to speculate about it. As aptly stated by the trial court, “Post-indictment safeguards exist to revisit the admissibility of such evidence before a petit jury.”
D.
The majority does not outlaw presentation of “emotional propensity” evidence to the grand jury, nor does it require that a medical expert witness testify in the grand jury. See Majority op. at 523, 862 P.2d at 896. The majority would find due process compliance in this case if a police officer testified in the grand jury that Dr. X, a reliable medical expert, said that the Mesa crimes tend to show a continuing emotional propensity by defendant to commit the crimes under investigation in Flagstaff. See id. (“[The ruling] would be otherwise if the State had produced any expert evidence, either by direct testimony or by hearsay, to establish an emotional propensi-ty____”); see also Treadaway, 116 Ariz. at 167, 568 P.2d at 1065. What this hearsay might mean to the grand jury is anybody’s guess, but the majority requires that somebody say it.
The mischief in the majority’s new rule is not that it adds a short litany to certain grand jury presentations, although it is unfortunate that it does that. The mischief in the new rule is that it will generate pretrial motions, hearings, and special actions regarding the applicability of the Treadaway rule to particular grand jury presentations and the extension of the new rule to other situations. The new rule will generate the mini-trials and preliminary showings that have no place at the grand jury stage of the proceedings. See State v. Baumann, 125 Ariz. 404, 408-09, 610 P.2d 38, 42-43 (1980); Marston’s, Inc. v. Superior Court, 114 Ariz. 260, 265, 560 P.2d 778, 783 (1977).
II.
The courts should not invite litigation about the nature of evidence presented to the grand jury. To the extent that the majority’s holding is such an invitation, it is an unwarranted interference with the functioning of the grand jury.
I would accept jurisdiction and deny relief, holding that Costello, Crimmins, and Rule 12.9, Ariz.R.Crim.P., articulate the proper standard by which to measure due process in the grand jury and holding, in addition, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that Petitioner’s due process rights were not violated in this grand jury proceeding.