Grand Jury

Boston white collar attorney Andrew Good and his firm, Good & Cormier, have won a significant victory in a First Circuit decision involving access by witnesses to their own federal grand jury transcripts. The opinion, N0. 08-1880, is styled IN RE: GRAND JURY and was issued on May 11. Although the opinion does not go as far as the landmark 2007 D.C. Circuit ruling in In re Grand Jury, 490 F.3d 978, it lowers the burden a grand jury witness must meet in the First Circuit in order to gain access to, as opposed to a copy of, his or her grand jury transcript when facing the prospect of re-appearing before the grand jury. Such witnesses are often subject to an increased risk of perjury prosecutions, by virtue of having made inconsistent statements over time. The majority also found that the three (count ‘em, three!) AUSAs who questioned the witness were verbally abusive.