Grand Jury Subpoena

The primary service of a grand jury is to review evidence presented in a criminal trial to determine if the charges are probable. A grand jury has the ability to seek a court order to subpoena evidence for a case. The word subpoena translates as “subject to sanction,” which means the person or corporation who receives the subpoena is ordered by a court of law to comply with the terms described in the subpoena.

There are two kinds of grand jury subpoenas:

·    Subpoena ad testificandum – ordering people to testify before the jury
·    Subpoena duces tecum – ordering evidence such as documents, test results, or tape recordings to be brought before the jury

If you have received a grand jury subpoena, you have three options. 1)You may comply with the terms of the subpoena, 2) convince a court that you don’t have to comply with it, 3) or refuse to comply and be held in contempt of court.

If you choose to comply with the grand jury subpoena, you must do everything the document tells you to do. If it states that you must testify before the jury on a given time and date, then you do that. If it orders you to bring forth evidence to review, then you must bring the evidence.

However, if you feel that you shouldn’t have to comply with the grand jury subpoena for any reason, then you may file a motion to quash the subpoena. There are two possible reasons a court may grant your motion. If you can show that complying with the subpoena would violate your First Amendment rights, then a court may either quash the sanction or modify the terms.

If you are claiming a constitutional privilege, you must persuade the court that the privilege also applies to the grand jury subpoena. You may not ask the court to violate the privileges of the grand jury.  In some cases, the court will modify the subpoena ordering you to testify non-privileged information, but protecting you from having to forfiet privileged information.

You can also motion to quash or modify a grand jury subpoena if you believe what it asks you to do is “unreasonable or oppressive.” Typically, this request is made when the subpoena orders that you produce copious records for a grand jury in a short amount of time, which makes the request unreasonable. For example, if you were asked to produce 150,000 pages of records in three days, then you could persuade the court to modify the subpoena to allow you more time to comply with the terms.

If you receive a grand jury subpoena and refuse to comply with the orders, then the prosecutor, on behalf of the grand jury, will ask the court to hold you in civil contempt. Very few circumstances would allow you to refuse fulfilling court orders. Unless you have a very good reason, the court will approve the prosecutor’s request and you may be held in contempt of court.  Civil contempt is the court’s way of forcing you to do what the grand jury wants you to do. If you’re held in civil contempt, you will be locked up until you agree to obey the terms of the subpoena or until the grand jury’s term is over.

Please contact us to learn more information about grand jury subpoenas or to speak with a qualified and experienced criminal law attorney who can help protect your legal rights and maximize your interests.