The grand jury that last year had been hearing evidence about a Beverly Hills, Calif., financial firm's contributions to Gov. Bill Richardson's political committees will not be the same grand jury that continues the investigation this year.

Terms of federal grand juries expire at the end of a calendar year, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias said Sunday. "They'd have to impanel a new grand jury," said Iglesias, stressing he's not involved in the investigation.

The grand jury investigation of a possible "pay-to-play" scheme in New Mexico prompted Richardson to withdraw his nomination for U.S. Commerce secretary.

Iglesias — whose firing two years ago caused a national scandal and eventually forced the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — said a new grand jury would have access to prior testimony and other evidence in the case, but would have the power to call new witnesses and request more documents.

The case involving the Richardson administration and CDR Financial Services wouldn't be the only case the grand jury is looking at. In New Mexico, Iglesias said, about 90 percent of the cases heard by grand juries deal with immigration or drug cases. "The rest are mainly violent offenses on Indian land or white-collar crime," he said.

Unlike trial juries, grand juries do not determine whether a person is guilty of criminal charges. Grand juries hear evidence to decide whether a person should be charged with crimes.

As is the case with state court grand juries, federal grand juries are cloaked in secrecy.

According to a University of Dayton School of Law Web site about federal grand juries, federal law "requires that 'matters occurring before the grand jury' be kept secret. The rule also says that if anyone bound by secrecy reveals 'matters occurring before' a grand jury, this is 'criminal contempt.' "

Though a witness can talk about what happened when he or she testified before the grand jury, nobody else present inside a grand jury hearing can.

The identities of the grand jurors are secret, as are the identities of the witnesses who testify before them and any evidence they consider.

The reasoning behind the secrecy is:

• To prevent those who are being investigated from interfering with witnesses or tampering with the investigation.

• To encourage reluctant witnesses to speak freely when they testify without fear of the testimony becoming public.

• To decrease the likelihood that someone about to be indicted by a grand jury will flee.

• To protect innocent people whose names may be implicated in a grand jury investigation but who will never be indicted.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.



ON THE WEB: campus.udayton.edu/~grandjur/faq/faq.htm