The jurors meet in a closed courtroom, with no judge, no accused, no press, and no lawyer but the prosecutor present. This means your lawyer will NOT be present in the closed court room. The grand jurors decide whether or not to indict a person or persons by listening to witnesses and evaluating evidence obtained by grand jury subpoenas.
By law, federal grand jury subpoenas are presumed to be valid, which means that it is up to the recipient to affirmatively demonstrate a reason why enforcement is unjustified.
Once we are engaged, one of our first steps when dealing with a federal grand jury subpoena is to make contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office handling the case. Our lawyers will engage with the prosecutors handling your case in order to gather as much information as possible.
While you are not entitled to representation in the grand jury room, you are entitled to speak with your counsel during the proceedings outside of the grand jury’s presence. If you need to produce records in response to a subpoena duces tecum, we will arrange the production and ensure that your confidential files remain secure during the process.
When federal prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) request a grand jury, this means that they believe they have (or will be able to obtain) sufficient evidence to establish the “probable cause” required in order to take their case to trial.
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify.
Impeachment. When a witness' statement would otherwise be inadmissible due to the hearsay rule, the prosecutor or defendant's lawyer may be able to get such information in through impeachment rather than through the direct case against the defendant.
A "target" is a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant.
subpoena for production of evidenceii. A Subpoena Duces Tecum (meaning 'subpoena for production of evidence') is a court order requiring the person subpoenaed to produce books, documents or other records under his or her control at a specified time/place in a court hearing or a deposition.
A simple majority of the grand jurors must vote for an indictment in order to return a true bill. If a majority of the grand jurors don't think the prosecutor's evidence creates probable cause, they will vote not to return the indictment.
In addition to the hearsay issue, a potential violation of the sixth amendment Confrontation Clause exists when courts admit grand jury testimony of a declarant who is unavailable to testify at trial. The Con- frontation Clause guarantees defendants the right to cross-examine their accusers at trial.
Presumed, alleged, or supposedPresumed, alleged, or supposed. ACADEMIC TOPICS.
adj. commonly believed, supposed or claimed. Thus a putative father is one believed to be the father unless proved otherwise, a putative marriage is one that is accepted as legal when in reality it was not lawful (e.g. due to failure to complete a prior divorce).
In a typical federal class action lawsuit, the complaint is filed as a putative, or proposed, class action by one or several named plaintiffs on behalf of an unnamed class of similarly-situated plaintiffs.
There are two types of Subpoenas:A Subpoena requiring a witness to attend court is called a Witness Subpoena. ... A Subpoena requiring someone to bring documents only to Court (no testimony from that person is needed, only the documents are needed) is called a Subpoena for the Production of Documents.
A subpoena is an Order that is issued to require the attendance of a witness to testify at a particular time and place. A subpoena duces tecum is an Order that requires a witness to bring documents, books or other items under his, her or their control, that he she or they is bound by law to produce into evidence.
In this jurisdiction, there are two (2) kinds of subpoena, to wit: subpoena ad testificandum and subpoena duces tecum. The first is used to compel a person to testify, while the second is used to compel the production of books, records, things or documents therein specified.
A grand jury is made up of anywhere from 16-23 members. They are individuals that have been called to serve, just like a regular court trial jury. They will be responsible fore reviewing the evidence and deciding if there is sufficient reason to believe you committed a crime.
Many individuals go into a federal grand jury without legal representation. While a federal grand jury is more casual than a formal court appearance, having a lawyer can still provide significant benefits that may help you clear your name or avoid criminal charges altogether.
Once we are engaged, one of our first steps when dealing with a federal grand jury subpoena is to make contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office handling the case. Our lawyers will engage with the prosecutors handling your case in order to gather as much information as possible. Not only will this give us a better understanding of why you have received a subpoena, but it will also allow us to explore opportunities for negotiating the scope of the subpoena without needing to file a motion to quash.
If you have been served with a federal grand jury subpoena, there is a lot you need to learn – and there are a lot of steps you need to take – in a very short period of time.
Upon being served with a federal grand jury subpoena, one of the first steps that must be taken is to review the subpoena in detail and assess the burden that it imposes (we discuss the steps to take in response to a federal grand jury subpoena in greater detail, below). Preparing testimony in response to a subpoena ad testificandum and collecting documents in response to a subpoena duces tecum are two very different processes, and each requires its own strategic and targeted approach.
A subpoena ad testificandum requires testimony, and may also require the production of records supporting the witness’s or suspect’s testimony. A subpoena duces tecum requires the production of records, and the burden of complying with a subpoena duces tecum will often be substantial.
Once the decision to empanel a grand jury has been made, the DOJ prosecutors handling the case must then work to gather sufficient evidence in order to allow the members of the grand jury to conclude that there is probable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a federal crime (or, as is often the case, multiple federal crimes).
Inadequate preparation could result in the disclosure of self-incriminating information and loss of the attorney-client privilege; and, as discussed above, ignoring the subpoena (or failing to submit a compliant response) could result in a finding of contempt and the potential for criminal prosecution.
In the federal criminal justice system, the empanelment of a grand jury is a significant step toward prosecution. When federal prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) request a grand jury, this means that they believe they have (or will be able to obtain) sufficient evidence to establish the “probable cause” required in order to take their case to trial. If the grand jury issues an indictment, the suspect becomes a defendant, and the options for obtaining a favorable result become more limited.
Your attorney should arrange with the prosecutor to accept service of the grand jury subpoena on your behalf. This spares you the embarrassment of being personally served by FBI agents at your home or in the workplace. What if the agents don't know or care that you have an attorney, and decide to serve you personally anyway? You should politely accept service, tell the agents that you have an attorney, and decline to answer any and all substantive questions about the case. Refer all questions to your attorney. What if you don't yet have an attorney when you are personally served with the grand jury subpoena? Politely accept service and tell the agents that you will decline to answer any substantive questions until you have had the opportunity to obtain an attorney. You are under no obligation to do anything other than accept service of the subpoena. If you say anything at all about the case to the agent you could be making dangerous admissions that may be used against you at a later time. For example, let's say that you are being investigated in connection with an alleged tax fraud scheme involving foreign trust accounts. Assume that there are no documents which on their face tie you to any such trust accounts. Then an FBI Special Agent (or an IRS Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent) serves you with a grand jury subpoena for all records related to those foreign trust accounts. When she serves the subpoena, the agent asks: "Are you going to cooperate?" You respond: "Yes, I'll cooperate. You'll get the documents." What have you done? You have just admitted to the government that you possess or have access to the foreign trust account documents. You have in effect acknowledged a connection between yourself and the foreign trusts. If you instead respond to the agent as follows: "I'm sorry, but I have an attorney and she will be contacting you," you have admitted nothing.
Other than having to respect testimonial and constitutional privileges of the people called to appear before it , a federal grand jury can pretty much do what it wants in questioning witnesses and compelling the production of documents.
If you have the money, your attorney can often conduct what is known as a shadow grand jury. Friendly witnesses will sometimes inform you if they have been subpoenaed to the grand jury and you and your defense team can often figure out who else the government may call. Grand jury witnesses are then interviewed, before or after they testify, giving you valuable information on where the investigation is heading. Of course, grand jury witnesses are under no obligation to cooperate with your defense team, and the use of shadow grand juries often infuriates prosecutors. You should proceed with great caution and make sure that all interviews are carefully documented so that your defense team is not accused of witness tampering or obstructing justice. And it should go without saying that your attorney and his staff should conduct and arrange all interviews-not you.
Federal grand jurors, grand jury court reporters and the prosecutors running the grand jury are under a strict duty to keep any "matter occurring before the grand jury" a secret. This duty is codified in Rule 6 (e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The federal grand jury is investigating a corporation for accounting fraud. You work in the corporation's accounting department. The prosecutor believes that any accounting department employee who reviewed Document X and later booked entries related to Document X is guilty of fraud.
The letter accompanying the witness' subpoena may ask or direct the witness to appear an hour or two early at the grand jury room or the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Federal grand juries have a maximum of 23 members, 16 of whom must be present to form a quorum. Indictments are returned by a vote of 12 or more members. Federal grand juries typically sit for a term of 18 months and meet at regular intervals.
The Ninth Circuit has adopted a per se rule that grand jury subpoenas always take precedence over civil protective orders, even where a prosecutor uses a grand jury’s broad investigative subpoena power to compel a lawyer to produce client information.
Thus, clients under grand jury investigation may hold back important information from their lawyers out of fear that their counsel will be compelled to produce to the government information that was disclosed to the lawyer through the attorney-client relationship.
The ABA has adopted policies against per se enforcement of subpoenas because of their potential to undermine the attorney-client relationship. Beyond information protected by the attorney-client privilege, a lawyer is obligated in the attorney-client relationship to maintain a client’s confidences except as directed by the client in the course of the representation. This per se approach overrides this element of confidence by compelling the lawyer served with a subpoena to act contrary to the interests of the client without an inquiry as to whether the government has other means for obtaining the information. Thus, clients under grand jury investigation may hold back important information from their lawyers out of fear that their counsel will be compelled to produce to the government information that was disclosed to the lawyer through the attorney-client relationship.
All reasons for the attorney-client privilege are completely eviscerated when a client consults an attorney not for advice on past misconduct, but for legal assistance in carrying out a contemplated or ongoing crime or fraud.
The law firms filed a motion to quash the subpoenas. The district court admitted that it could find no authority supporting the motion. Thus, the court concluded that “because the motions to quash raise novel issues with potentially far-reaching implications about the power of the grand jury and the relationship between grand jury proceedings and civil discovery of unindicted foreign defendants,” it found that it was “more prudent to quash the subpoenas and allow the [Government] to raise these issues on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.”
The exception has also been applied in cases involving a privilege asserted under the work product doctrine.
No collusion between the civil suitors and the government has been established or even suggested by the Law Firms. Indeed, the district court determined that the government had not engaged in any bad faith tactics. Moreover, the Law Firms do not claim that the documents are privileged. Accordingly, we apply our per se rule that a grand jury subpoena takes precedence over a civil protective order. By a chance of litigation, the documents have been moved from outside the grasp of the grand jury to within its grasp. No authority forbids the government from closing its grip on what lies within the jurisdiction of the grand jury.
If you receive a federal grand jury subpoena, that means that you or someone you know or were affiliated with is the target of a federal criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. In order for someone to be indicted, the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution mandates the use of a grand jury for all capital and infamous crimes.
There are three ways to react to a subpoena: comply, challenge, or ignore. Comply. Understanding that compliance with a subpoena from a grand jury is not a voluntary but a mandatory act, most people follow the advice of their lawyers and simply comply with the demands of the subpoena.
This subpoena type is referred to as a subpoena ad testificandum. Both types of subpoenas require the person who receives them to respond. As a practical matter, however, not all individuals who receive a grand jury subpoena duces tecum will actually be required to appear.
Challenging a subpoena from a grand jury means that a lawyer needs to file a motion to quash with the court and convince the court that the subpoena does not comply with applicable rules and procedures. For example, it can be argued that the individual subpoenaed has nothing to do with the case, does not possess the information sought, would have to reveal information that is privileged and confidential, or that the subpoena infringes the individual’s constitutional rights by being overly broad, overly burdensome, or unreasonably intrusive and oppressive. In such a case, the court may limit and reduce the scope of the subpoena or declare the subpoena null and void making its compliance unnecessary.
However, grand juries normally sits for an extended period of time and review numerous cases compared to a petit jury that sits for the duration of a single trial. Grand jury secrecy is important. Grand juries also have the power to issue a subpoena for documents and grand jury witness test imony that will help it evaluate the case.
Grand juries meet on a schedule that is determined by the district in which it sits. Some may meet every two weeks or every month depending on the criminal case-load that exist in their particular district. The jury can hear numerous cases in one day and at the end of the session will vote to either approve the indictment ( True Bill) or disapprove of the indictment (No Bill). If a True Bill is returned they have determined that probable cause exists to believe that the stated crime has been committed. At this point the individual (s) named in the indictment are officially charged with a crime.
The first category of subpoena requires someone to deliver tangible evidence such as documents, pictures, videos, tape recordings, test results, bank records, corporate documents, account ing statements etc. to the jurors.