Page:1887 Compiled Laws of Dakota Territory.pdf/1190

§§ 7215-7225

§ 7215. In the investigation of a charge for the purpose of either presentment or indictment or accusation, the grand jury can receive no other evidence than such as is given by witnesses produced and sworn before them, or furnished by legal docu­mentary evidence.

§ 7216. The grand jury can receive none but legal evidence and the best evidence in degree to the exclusion of hearsay or secondary evidence.

§ 7217. The grand jury is not bound to bear evidence for the defendant, but it is their duty to weigh all the evidence submitted to them, and when they have reason to believe that there is other evidence, they may, by and with the consent of the dis­trict attorney, order such evidence to be produced, and for that purpose the district attorney may issue process for the witnesses.

§ 7218. The grand jury ought to find an indictment when all the evidence before them, taken together, is such as in their judgment would, if unexplained or uncontradicted, warrant a conviction by the trial jury.

§ 7219. If a member of the grand jury knows, or has rea­son to believe, that a public offense has been committed, which is triable in the county or subdivision, he must declare the same to his fellow jurors, who must thereupon investigate the same.

§ 7220. The grand jury must inquire:

1. Into the case of every person imprisoned in the jail of the county or subdivision, on a criminal charge, and not indicted.

2. Into the condition and management of the public prisons in the county or subdivision; and,

3. Into the wilful and corrupt misconduct in office of public officers of every description in the county or subdivision.

§ 7221. They are also entitled to free access at all reason­able times, to public prisons, and to the examination, without charge, of all public records in the county.

§ 7222. The grand jury may at all reasonable times ask the advice of the court or of the district attorney. The district attorney may at all times appear before the grand jury for the purpose of giving information or advice relative to any matter cognizable before them, and may interrogate witnesses before them whenever he thinks it necessary; but no other person is permitted to be present during their sessions except the members and a witness actually under examination, and no person whomsoever must be permitted to be present during the ex­pression of their opinions or the giving of their votes upon any matter before them.

§ 7223. Every member of the grand jury must keep secret whatever he himself or any other grand juror may have said, or in what manner he or any other grand juror may have voted on a matter before them.

§ 7224. A member of the grand jury may, however, be required by any court to disclose the testimony of a witness examined before the grand jury, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is consistent with that given by the witness before the court, or to disclose the testimony given before them by any person, upon a charge against him for perjury in giving his test­imony, or upon his trial therefor.

§ 7225. A grand juror cannot be questioned for anything he may say, or any vote he may give in the grand jury, relative to a matter legally pending before the jury, except for a perjury