REQUIREMENT TO PRESENT EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE
Some courts have held that where a prosecutor discovers substantial exculpatory evidence in the course of an investigation, the prosecution must disclose such evidence to the grand jury. Other courts have held that there is no right to have exculpatory evidence presented before the grand jury.
U.S. v. Adamo, 742 F.2d 927 (6th Cir. 1944) (dismissing the indictment automatically where false evidence is presented);
U.S. v. Williams, 671 F. Supp. 1 (D. Mass. 1987);
Bank of Nova Scotia v. U.S., 487 U.S. 250 (1988) (stating district court did not err in dismissing bank fraud indictment where government failed to provide grand jury documents indicating defendant used unorthodox valuation methods).
However, the Supreme Court held in U.S. v. Williams, 504 US 36 (1992), that “[R]equiring the prosecutor to present exculpatory as well as inculpatory evidence would alter the grand jury’s historical role, transforming it from an accusatory to an adjudicatory body.”
Texas, however, requires prosecutors to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury. Tex. Code Crim. Pro. Ann. § 2.01.
