Kim Gonzalez petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus ordering Judge John Jolly of the Franklin County Circuit Court to dismiss the capital murder indictment against her. We hold that she has failed to establish a clеar legal right to the relief requested and, therefore, we deny the writ.
Gonzalez argues that the indictment should be dismissed because, she argues, the grand jury proceedings were sо tainted by prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel as to render the proceedings fundamentally unfair. She also argues that statements she made to police that were presented to the grand jury were illegally obtained and should not be used against her. Gonzalez moved to dismiss the indictment, but the trial court dеnied her motion. She then petitioned the Court of Criminal Appeals for a writ of mandamus requiring the trial judge to dismiss the indictment, but that court denied the writ, without an opinion. Ex parte Gonzalez,
The writ of mandamus is a drastic and extraordinary writ, to be issued only when there is a clear legal right to the relief sought, a duty uрon the respondent to perform, a refusal to do so, lack of another adequate remedy, and properly invoked jurisdiction of the court. Ex parte Ziglar,
The issue in this case is whether Kim Gonzalez has a clear legal right to have the capital murder indictment quashed.
In Ex parte Jackson,
Because the writ of mandamus is an extraordinary writ and because it is rare to a murder indictment handed down by a grand jury, we consider the function of the grand jury to determine if mandamus relief would be appropriate here.
"The grаnd jury is an institution separate from the courts, over whose functioning the courts do not preside." UnitedStates v. Williams,
Unlike a court, which needs а case or controversy in order to have jurisdiction, the grand jury can investigate on a mere suspicion that a law is being violated or to assure that it is not being violated. United States v. R. Enterprises,
With that in mind, we will address Gonzalez's arguments that the capital murder indictment should be quashed. First, she argues that the district attorney should not have testified at the grand jury proceeding as a witness when he had also appeared as a prosecutor in the proceeding. Second, she argues that hеr attorney should not have testified at the grand jury proceeding. Last, she argues that her statement made to the police was an involuntary statement and should not have bеen used at the grand jury proceeding.
Gonzalez argues that the district attorney should not have been allowed to testify as a witness in front of the grand jury because, she says, his testifying violated the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct. However, Gonzalez does not cite a specific rule. She does quote the following from a 1979 federal district cоurt case out of Illinois: "[A] prosecutor may not hasten the procuring of an indictment by testifying as a witness before the grand jury in a case s/he is prosecuting."United States v. Gold,
First, we note that we are not bound by the statement inGold. See, Weems v. Jefferson-Pilot Life Insurance Co.,
Gonzalez also argues that her attorney should not have testified at the grand jury proceeding. She argues that her attorney testified against her, violating Gonzalez's attorney-client privilege. The State argues that at the hearing on the motion to dismiss Gonzalеz did not argue that the attorney violated the attorney-client privilege and, therefore, that she is barred from raising it now. In response, Gonzalez claims that a motion to dismiss thе indictment was made in open court and that this is sufficient to raise the issue. However, this is not sufficient to raise Gonzalez's specific argument concerning a violation of thе attorney-client privilege.Assured Investors Life Insurance Co. v. National Union Assocs.,Inc.,
Assuming that Gonzalez had properly raised this argument in the court below, we cannot say the she would be entitled to mandamus relief on the merits of her argument. In order to show a violation of the attorney-client privilege, one must show that there was an attоrney-client relationship, that the communications were within the privilege, and that prejudice would result if the communications were disclosed. Bassett v.Newton,
Last, Gonzalez argues that she is entitled to have the indictment quashed on the grounds that her statements were illegаlly obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment and should not have been presented to the grand jury. As we stated earlier, the United States Supreme Court has refused to extend the application of the exclusionary rule to grand jury proceedings. Calandra,
Based on the foregoing, we hold that Gonzalez has failed to show a clear legal right to an order quashing the indictment.
WRIT DENIED.
HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX, HOUSTON, KENNEDY, and COOK, JJ., concur.
