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Rule 2.3 – The grand jury

May 13, 2021 | Criminal Procedure, Iowa

2. 3(1)Drawing grand jurors. At such times as prescribed by the chief judge of the district court in the public interest, the names of the twelve persons constituting the panel of the grand jury shall be placed by the clerk in a container, and after thoroughly mixing the same, in open court the clerk shall draw therefrom seven names, and the persons so drawn shall constitute the grand jury. Computer selection processes may be used to randomly draw the seven names. Should any of the persons so drawn be excused by the court or fail to attend on the day designated for their appearance, the clerk shall draw either manually or by use of a computer selection process additional names until the seven grand jurors are secured.

If the panel is insufficient to provide and maintain a grand jury of seven members, the panel shall be refilled from the jury box or computer selection process by the clerk of the court under direction of the court; additional grand jurors shall be selected until a grand jury of seven grand jurors is secured, and they shall be summoned in the manner as those originally drawn.

2. 3(2)Challenge to grand jury.

a. Challenge to array. A defendant held to answer for a public offense may, before the grand jury is sworn, challenge the panel or the grand jury, only for the reason that it was not composed or drawn as prescribed by law. If the challenge be sustained, the court shall thereupon proceed to take remedial action to compose a proper grand jury panel or grand jury.
b. Challenge to individual jurors. A challenge to an individual grand juror may be made before the grand jury is sworn as follows:

(1) By the state or the defendant, because the grand juror does not possess the qualifications required by law.
(2) By the state only because:

1. The juror is related either by affinity or consanguinity nearer than in the fifth degree, or stands in the relation of agent, clerk, servant, or employee, to any person held to answer for a public offense, whose case may come before the grand jury.
2. The juror is providing bail for anyone held to answer for a public offense, whose case may come before the grand jury.
3. The juror is defendant in a prosecution similar to any prosecution to be examined by the grand jury
4. The juror is, or within one year preceding has been, engaged or interested in carrying on any business, calling, or employment the carrying on of which is a violation of law, and for which the juror may be indicted by the grand jury.
(3) By the defendant only because:

1. The juror is a complainant upon a charge against the defendant.
2. The juror has formed or expressed such an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant as would prevent the juror from rendering a true indictment upon the evidence submitted.
c. Decision by court. Challenges to the panel or to an individual grand juror shall be decided by the court.
d. Motion to dismiss. A motion to dismiss the indictment may be based on challenges to the array or to an individual juror, if the grounds for challenge which are alleged in the motion of the defendant have not previously been determined pursuant to a challenge asserted by the defendant pursuant to rule 2.3(2)(a) or 2.3(2)(b).
2. 3(3)Discharging and summoning jurors.

a. Discharge. A grand jury, on the completion of its business, shall be discharged by the court. The grand jury shall serve until discharged by the court, and the regular term of service by a grand juror should not exceed one calendar year. However, when an investigation which has been undertaken by the grand jury is incomplete, the court may by order extend the eligibility of a grand juror beyond one year, to the completion of the investigation.
b. Summoning jurors. Upon order of the court the clerk shall issue a precept or precepts to the sheriff, commanding the sheriff to summon the grand juror or jurors. Upon a failure of a grand juror to obey such summons without sufficient cause, the grand juror may be punished for contempt.
c. Excusing jurors. If the court excuses a juror, the court may impanel another person in place of the juror excused. If the grand jury has been reduced to fewer than seven by reason of challenges to individual jurors being allowed, or from any other cause, the additional jurors required to fill the panel shall be summoned, first, from such of the twelve jurors originally summoned which were not drawn on the grand jury as first impaneled, and if they are exhausted the additional number required shall be drawn from the grand jury list. If a challenge to the array is allowed, a new grand jury shall be impaneled to inquire into the charge against the defendant in whose behalf the challenge to the array has been allowed, and they shall be summoned in the manner prescribed in this rule.
2. 3(4)Oaths and procedure.

a. Foreman or forewoman. From the persons impaneled as grand jurors the court shall appoint a foreman or forewoman, or when the foreman or forewoman already appointed is discharged, excused, or from any cause becomes unable to act before the grand jury is finally discharged, an acting foreman or forewoman may be appointed.

The foreman or forewoman of the grand jury may administer the oath to all witnesses produced and examined before it.

b. Clerks, bailiffs and court attendants. The court may appoint as clerk of the grand jury a competent person who is not a member thereof. In addition the court may, if it deems it necessary, appoint assistant clerks of the grand jury. If no such appointments are made by the court, the grand jury shall appoint as its clerk one of its own number who is not its foreman or forewoman. In like manner the court may appoint bailiffs for the grand jury to serve with the powers of a peace officer while so acting.
c. Oaths administered to grand jury, clerk, bailiff, and court attendant. The following oath shall be administered to the grand jury: “Do each of you, as the grand jury, solemnly swear or affirm that you will diligently inquire and true presentment make of all public offenses against the people of this state, triable on indictment within this county, of which you have or can obtain legal evidence; you shall present no person through malice, hatred, or ill will, nor leave any unpresented through fear, favor, or affection, or for any reward, or the promise or hope thereof, but in all your presentments that you shall present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, according to the best of your skill and understanding?”

Any clerk, assistant clerk, bailiff, or court attendant appointed by the court must be given the following oath: “Do you solemnly swear that you will faithfully and impartially perform the duties of your office, that you will not reveal to anyone its proceedings or the testimony given before it and will abstain from expressing any opinion upon any question before it, to or in the presence or hearing of the grand jury or any member thereof?”

d. Secrecy of proceedings. Every member of the grand jury, and its clerks, bailiffs and court attendants, shall keep secret the proceedings of that body and the testimony given before it, except as provided in rule 2.14. No such person shall disclose the fact that an indictment has been found except when necessary for the issuance and execution of a warrant or summons, and such duty of nondisclosure shall continue until the indicted person has been arrested. The prosecuting attorney shall be allowed to appear before the grand jury on his or her own request for the purpose of giving information or for the purpose of examining witnesses, and the grand jury may at all reasonable times ask the advice of the prosecuting attorney or the court. However, neither the prosecuting attorney nor any other officer or person except the grand jury may be present when the grand jury is voting upon the finding of an indictment.
e. Securing witnesses and records. The clerk of the court must, when required by the foreman or forewoman of the grand jury or prosecuting attorney, issue subpoenas including subpoenas duces tecum for witnesses to appear before the grand jury.

The grand jury is entitled to free access at all reasonable times to county institutions and places of confinement, and to the examination without charge of all public records within the county.

f. Minutes. The clerk of the grand jury shall take and preserve minutes of the proceedings and of the evidence given before it, except the votes of its individual members on finding an indictment.
g. Evidence for defendant. The grand jury is not bound to hear evidence for the defendant, but may do so, and must weigh all the evidence submitted to it, and when it has reason to believe that other evidence within its reach will explain away the charge, it may order the same produced.
h. Refusal of witness to testify. When a witness under examination before the grand jury refuses to testify or to answer a question, it shall proceed with the witness before a district judge, and the foreman or forewoman shall then distinctly state before a district judge the question and the refusal of the witness, and if upon hearing the witness the court decides that the witness is bound to testify or answer the question propounded, the judge shall inquire whether the witness persists in refusing and, if the witness does, shall proceed with the witness as in cases of similar refusal in open court.
i. Effect of refusal to indict. If, upon investigation, the grand jury refuses to find an indictment against one charged with a public offense, it shall return all papers to the clerk, with an endorsement thereon, signed by the foreman or forewoman, to the effect that the charge is ignored. Thereupon, the district judge must order the discharge of the defendant from custody if in jail, and the exoneration of bail if bail be given. Upon good cause shown, the district judge may direct that the charge again be submitted to the grand jury. Such ignoring of the charge does not prevent the cause from being submitted to another grand jury as the court may direct; but without such direction, it cannot again be submitted.
j. Duty of grand jury. The grand jury shall inquire into all indictable offenses brought before it which may be tried within the county, and present them to the court by indictment. The grand jury shall meet at times specified by order of a district judge. In addition to those times, the grand jury shall meet at the request of the county attorney or upon the request of a majority of the grand jurors.

It is made the special duty of the grand jury to inquire into:

(1) The case of every person imprisoned in the detention facilities of the county on a criminal charge and not indicted.
(2) The condition and management of the public prisons, county institutions and places of detention within the county.
(3) The unlawful misconduct in office in the county of public officers and employees.
k. Appearance not required. A person under the age of ten years shall not be required to personally appear before a grand jury to testify against another person related to the person or another person who resided with the person at the time of the action which is the subject of the grand jury’s investigation, unless there exists a special order of the court finding that the interests of justice require the person’s appearance and that the person will not be disproportionately traumatized by the appearance.

Iowa. R. Crim. P. 2.3

66GA, ch 1245(2), § 1301; 67GA, ch 153, § 8 to 11, ch 1037, § 11; amendment 1980; amendment 1983; 1985 Iowa Acts, ch 174, § 12; Report November 9, 2001, effective February 15, 2002; February 22, 2002, effective May 1, 2002