Summary
The Nebraska Supreme Court held that a district court erred by relying on Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) to authorize disclosure of grand jury testimony after a no true bill. Nebraska statutes limited judicially approved release in these circumstances to furnishing testimony to the witness or transferring evidence to another court, neither of which applied. The court reversed the order permitting the State to obtain Celia Milwood's grand jury testimony.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the district court could authorize release of grand jury testimony by relying on exceptions to grand jury secrecy under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e).
- Whether Nebraska statutes authorized release of Milwood's grand jury testimony to the county attorney or police officer after the grand jury returned a no true bill.
Holdings
- The district court erred by relying on Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) to authorize release of the testimony; the Nebraska Supreme Court's prior references to Rule 6(e) did not adopt the federal rule's exceptions for Nebraska proceedings.
- Nebraska statutes did not authorize release of Milwood's grand jury testimony to the county attorney or police officer under the circumstances presented after the grand jury returned a no true bill.
- The return of a no true bill did not prevent the county attorney from independently continuing the investigation or seeking a new grand jury inquiry upon a proper showing of additional relevant evidence.
Key quotations
“Given the foregoing statutes, it is clear that court approval for the release of grand jury proceedings when there has been a no true bill is limited by statute to witnesses and to other courts.”
Factual background
Bruce Sheppard died in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 19, 1986, from a single gunshot wound, and his wife, Celia Milwood, was the only other person known to be present. Milwood initially told police that she was in the kitchen when she heard the gunshot, but later testified in a civil deposition that she was in the bedroom and saw Sheppard place the gun to his head. A 1990 grand jury investigated the death and returned a no true bill. In 2003 or 2004, a police officer sought access to Milwood's grand jury testimony to compare it with her deposition as part of a renewed investigation.
Procedural history
The State filed a motion seeking release of Milwood's grand jury testimony. After an evidentiary hearing, the Lancaster County District Court granted the motion subject to conditions governing the reading, note-taking, and disclosure of the testimony. Milwood appealed, and the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed.