The district attorneys for the several judicial districts in the state of Colorado shall appear in their respective districts at all sessions of any grand jury which may be convened in any county within their respective districts, and it is the duty of the district attorney to advise any grand jury convened within his district and to examine witnesses who may be subpoenaed before any such grand jury.
Source: L. 17: p. 165, § 1. C.L. § 5979. CSA: C. 55, § 6. CRS 53: § 45-1-6. C.R.S. 1963: § 45-1-6.
ANNOTATION
Duty to appear at grand juries. This section not only gives the district attorney the right to appear at all sessions of grand juries, but makes it his duty to do so. People ex rel. District Att'y v. District Court, 75 Colo. 412, 225 P. 829 (1924).
Purpose of section. This right and duty of the district attorney to appear before grand juries is but a recognition and indorsement of a practice which has long prevailed, not only in many of the states, and in the federal courts, but in England. The presence of the prosecuting officer tends to expedite the work of the grand jury, and the knowledge of the facts there obtained is of advantage to him in the preparation and trial of the indictments returned. People ex rel. District Att'y v. District Court, 75 Colo. 412, 225 P. 829 (1924).
Mere presence of investigators from the district attorney's staff at grand jury sessions may not in and of itself be sufficient to invalidate an indictment in a given case unless prejudice is shown. People v. Lewis, 183 Colo. 236, 516 P.2d 416 (1973).
Grand jurors must remain free to reach their own conclusions based on the facts presented to them. People v. Meyers, 617 P.2d 808 (Colo. 1980).
Prosecutor must exercise due care to assure that he does not unduly influence the grand jury. People v. Meyers, 617 P.2d 808 (Colo. 1980).
And transcript released to defense where misconduct affects indictment or probable cause determination. Only in cases where clear examples of inappropriate conduct by the district attorney may affect the validity of the defendant's indictment or the determination of probable cause should the trial court sacrifice the confidentiality of the grand jury proceedings and release a transcript of the grand jury colloquy between the district attorney and the grand jury to the defense counsel. People v. District Court, 199 Colo. 398, 610 P.2d 490 (1980).
Applied in People ex rel. Losavio v. Gentry, 199 Colo. 153, 606 P.2d 57 (1980).