Court Opinion

ID: 9666898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:29:57.042726+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:26.444370
License: Public Domain

SIMONETT, Justice
(dissenting in part).
I join in Parts I and III of the court’s opinion but respectfully dissent from Part II.
The four-judge panel carefully reviewed the long list of irregularities claimed by the defendants. Some of the claims were dismissed as innocuous; some were thought to be blemishes which should be avoided; and some were found to be error. Whether considered individually or collectively, the errors were found by the panel to be harmless as a matter of law. The panel, nevertheless, carefully discussed each claimed irregularity because it saw this as an appropriate occasion to make a statement as to how grand jury proceedings henceforth should be conducted, so as “to make the process as error-free as possible in the future.” The panel saw no reason, however, to dismiss the indictments handed down by the March grand jury, and neither do I.
A few examples may be cited to give a flavor of the proceedings. The county attorney told the jury he would send a squad car to seek out absent jurors. This comment was made while emphasizing to the jurors the necessity for having a quorum to do business and was said (as the panel found) humorously. It was no more error, in my opinion, than the county attorney’s instruction to the jury not to be “lazy listeners” (a remark not objected to) or telling the jurors they would all be made “scholars in criminal law” (an obvious exaggeration intended humorously which the panel said was not error). Ironically, if prosecutors try to be folksy or jocular to put new grand jurors at ease, they may be accused of seeking to ingratiate themselves with the jury. If they warn or admonish jurors about inattention, they may be charged with intimidation. If they misstate the law inadvertently, they are attempting to mislead; and if they are thought to be too helpful, they are manipulating.
*468During a discussion of the criminal process, the subject turned to, among other things, discussion of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,1 plea negotiations,2 and lesser-included offenses. Thus the assistant county attorney stated: “Every lesser degree of murder is intended by the statute to be characterized as an included offense.” This remark, said the panel, was an oversimplification, but one more likely to be overlooked than to mislead. There were other similar irregularities.3
None of the alleged irregularities, it should be noted, occurred during the presentation of a particular case against a particular defendant. The “errors” occurred at the initial orientation session conducted by the prosecutor with the new grand jurors and after they had been instructed by the judge. The jurors knew they were receiving only a preliminary overview of what they would be doing in the months ahead. Criminal law is complicated, even for lawyers, and almost any statement made about it is an oversimplification; but — keeping in mind these are remarks to a grand jury, not a petit jury — I fail to see where there was any harm, especially when it was clear to the jurors that they would receive further explanations of the law when the cases were presented.
The main concern in this appeal is whether the “tone” and overall effect of the prosecutor’s orientation talk was to undermine the independence of the grand jury. A grand jury must make its own evidentia-ry evaluations and decisions. By probing the evidence, a grand jury can expose the strengths and weaknesses of a case.4 On the other hand, if the grand jury indicts a weak case, it can put the government to an expensive and wasteful prosecution to no one’s benefit. Finally, if the occasion arises, it must be prepared to shield an accused from accusations stemming from a prosecutor’s malice or personal bias. In other words, the grand jury serves a number of purposes and is useful in bringing to bear the conscience of the community at the point where the criminal justice system is sought to be invoked.
If the grand jury is to be worth its salt, it must be aware of and be willing to assert its independence. Yet, it is the prosecutor who prepares the case, calls and examines the witnesses, and advises the grand jury on the law. The prosecutor’s presence in grand jury proceedings is made even more prominent by the conspicuous absence of defense counsel. There is an element of interdependence between the grand jury and the prosecutor, which, realistically, cannot be ignored and will not disappear whatever the incantations used.
The grand jury is not a prosecutor; it is not the county attorney’s “rubber stamp.” Neither is the prosecutor the sovereign, but only the sovereign’s representative. The relationship between the prosecutor and the grand jury is not that of partners. Perhaps the relationship is best described, *469as defendants urge, as an attorney-client relationship, although even this description needs definition. As the four-judge panel noted, one way to maintain a correct relationship between the prosecutor and the grand jury is by more trial court supervision. The practice now of recording grand jury proceedings should also be a helpful deterrent against improprieties. It would help, too, if the prosecutor was required from time to time to remind the jury of the lines of demarcation between them. The jurors should hear this from the county attorney as well as the judge.
From my review of the transcript of the grand jury proceedings, I see no reason to think the March grand jury’s independence was undermined. Nothing sinister occurred. At most, we have the county attorney treating the jurors with undue familiarity while trying to make the criminal process less mysterious and formidable. Several times the county attorney stressed the grand jury’s independent role.5 This case is quite unlike State v. Grose, 387 N.W.2d 182 (Minn.App.1986), where there was egregious misconduct and obvious bias by the county attorney in the presentation of the case against the defendant. We do not have here the blatant overreaching of a prosecutor that appears in United States v. Samango, 607 F.2d 877 (9th Cir.1979). We have no “systematic and pervasive” misconduct that raises “a substantial and serious question as to the fundamental fairness of the grand jury process.” Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, - U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 2369, 2376, 101 L.Ed.2d 228 (1988).
This is not to say there were not irregularities in this case which need to be corrected, but simply to put matters in a common sense perspective. I should not care for this court’s opinion to be construed as an invitation to search the transcript of grand jury proceedings for every imperfection (for no proceeding or trial is ever perfect) in the hope that a long enough list will constitute prejudicial cumulative error.
We need, too, to give credit to the common sense of jurors. We tend at times to underestimate their savvy. The foreman who had been contacted by the foreman of the November grand jury wrote a letter which is part of the record on this appeal. He said he was reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s comment: “All professions are a conspiracy against the laity.” I should not like to believe this is true, but sometimes I wonder.
I would affirm the four-judge panel in all respects.

. When the county attorney mentioned his office used the higher standard of reasonable likelihood of obtaining a conviction rather than the standard of probable cause, he was attempting to point out that at trial the prosecutor would have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

. The county attorney told the jurors they were not to consider plea negotiations in deciding whether or not to indict; that his office’s policy was not to negotiate a plea but to prosecute the offense for which indicted, although in some instances, as where a key witness dies or changes his testimony before trial, negotiations might then be appropriate.

. The informational packet prepared by former grand jurors dealt mainly with "helpful hints" on the importance of maintaining secrecy, being courteous to witnesses, and managing time. While the packet mentioned use of an exploratory "straw vote” on occasion, it also stated, “A final vote is final, and may not be taken again because some members are unhappy with the result.” On the other hand, some statements in the packet should not have been made, such as implying a suspect will be released if not indicted.

."[Tjhe grand jury gives the prosecutor a feel for how the case will appear to a petit jury. The grand jury’s reaction may lead the prosecutor to re-evaluate the evidence supporting a particular case. As a result, the prosecutor may either strengthen the proof or drop the contemplated indictment.” Sullivan and Nachman, If It Ain't Broke, Don’t Fix It: Why the Grand lury’s Accusatory Function Should Not Be Changed, 75 J.Crim.L. & Criminology 1047, 1053 (1984)

. In telling the jurors about their right to ask questions, for example, the county attorney said: "So ask the questions. Don't be in any way hesitant about doing it. That’s real important.” T. 26.
Again: "Now, after its presented then, you go into deliberations. That’s when you call the shots entirely. Court reporter leaves the room. We leave the room. And you’re here alone.” T. 27.
And again, from the assistant county attorney: “You are the final deciders on the appropriate charge if we present to you. And what we previously charged is of no consequence. You are an independent body and should make the decision based upon what you hear during the grand jury presentation.”