904-913

PENAL CODE
SECTION 904-913




904.  Every superior court, whenever in its opinion the public
interest so requires, shall make and file with the jury commissioner
an order directing a grand jury to be drawn. The order shall
designate the number of grand jurors to be drawn, which may not be
less than 29 nor more than 40 in counties having a population
exceeding four million and not less than 25 nor more than 30 in other
counties.



904.4.  (a) In any county having a population of more than 370,000
but less than 400,000 as established by Section 28020 of the
Government Code, the presiding judge of the superior court, upon
application by the district attorney, may order and direct the
drawing and impanelment at any time of one additional grand jury.
   (b) The presiding judge may select persons, at random, from the
list of trial jurors in civil and criminal cases and shall examine
them to determine if they are competent to serve as grand jurors.
When a sufficient number of competent persons have been selected,
they shall constitute the additional grand jury.
   (c) Any additional grand jury which is impaneled pursuant to this
section may serve for a period of one year from the date of
impanelment, but may be discharged at any time within the one-year
period by order of the presiding judge. In no event shall more than
one additional grand jury be impaneled pursuant to this section at
the same time.
   (d) Whenever an additional grand jury is impaneled pursuant to
this section, it may inquire into any matters that are subject to
grand jury inquiry and shall have the sole and exclusive jurisdiction
to return indictments, except for any matters that the regular grand
jury is inquiring into at the time of its impanelment.
   (e) If an additional grand jury is also authorized by another
section, the county may impanel the additional grand jury authorized
by this section, or by the other section, but not both.



904.6.
   (a) In any county or city and county, the presiding judge of the
superior court, or the judge appointed by the presiding judge to
supervise the grand jury, may, upon the request of the Attorney
General or the district attorney or upon his or her own motion, order
and direct the impanelment, of one additional grand jury pursuant to
this section.
   (b) The presiding judge or the judge appointed by the presiding
judge to supervise the grand jury shall select persons, at random,
from the list of trial jurors in civil and criminal cases and shall
examine them to determine if they are competent to serve as grand
jurors. When a sufficient number of competent persons have been
selected, they shall constitute the additional grand jury.
   (c) Any additional grand jury which is impaneled pursuant to this
section may serve for a period of one year from the date of
impanelment, but may be discharged at any time within the one-year
period by order of the presiding judge or the judge appointed by the
presiding judge to supervise the grand jury. In no event shall more
than one additional grand jury be impaneled pursuant to this section
at the same time.
   (d) Whenever an additional grand jury is impaneled pursuant to
this section, it may inquire into any matters which are subject to
grand jury inquiry and shall have the sole and exclusive jurisdiction
to return indictments, except for any matters which the regular
grand jury is inquiring into at the time of its impanelment.
   (e) It is the intent of the Legislature that all persons qualified
for jury service shall have an equal opportunity to be considered
for service as criminal grand jurors in the county in which they
reside, and that they have an obligation to serve, when summoned for
that purpose. All persons selected for the additional criminal grand
jury shall be selected at random from a source or sources reasonably
representative of a cross section of the population which is eligible
for jury service in the county.



904.7.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 904.6 or any
other provision, in the County of San Bernardino, the presiding judge
of the superior court, or the judge appointed by the presiding judge
to supervise the grand jury, may, upon the request of the Attorney
General or the district attorney or upon his or her own motion, order
and direct the impanelment of an additional civil grand jury
pursuant to this section.
   (b) The presiding judge or the judge appointed by the presiding
judge to supervise the grand jury shall select persons, at random,
from the list of trial jurors in civil and criminal cases and shall
examine them to determine if they are competent to serve as grand
jurors. When a sufficient number of competent persons have been
selected, they shall constitute an additional grand jury.
   (c) Any additional civil grand jury that is impaneled pursuant to
this section may serve for a term as determined by the presiding
judge or the judge appointed by the presiding judge to supervise the
civil grand jury, but may be discharged at any time within the set
term by order of the presiding judge or the judge appointed by the
presiding judge to supervise the civil grand jury. In no event shall
more than one additional civil grand jury be impaneled pursuant to
this section at the same time.
   (d) Whenever an additional civil grand jury is impaneled pursuant
to this section, it may inquire into matters of oversight, conduct
investigations, issue reports, and make recommendations, except for
any matters that the regular grand jury is inquiring into at the time
of its impanelment. Any additional civil grand jury impaneled
pursuant to this section shall not have jurisdiction to issue
indictments.
   (e) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in the County of San
Bernardino, all persons qualified for jury service shall have an
equal opportunity to be considered for service as criminal grand
jurors within the county, and that they have an obligation to serve,
when summoned for that purpose. All persons selected for an
additional criminal grand jury shall be selected at random from a
source or sources reasonably representative of a cross section of the
population that is eligible for jury service in the county.




904.8.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 904.6 or any
other provision, in the County of Los Angeles, the presiding judge of
the superior court, or the judge appointed by the presiding judge to
supervise the grand jury, may, upon the request of the Attorney
General or the district attorney or upon his or her own motion, order
and direct the impanelment of up to two additional grand juries
pursuant to this section.
   (b) The presiding judge or the judge appointed by the presiding
judge to supervise the grand jury shall select persons, at random,
from the list of trial jurors in civil and criminal cases and shall
examine them to determine if they are competent to serve as grand
jurors. When a sufficient number of competent persons have been
selected, they shall constitute an additional grand jury.
   (c) Any additional grand juries that are impaneled pursuant to
this section may serve for a period of one year from the date of
impanelment, but may be discharged at any time within the one-year
period by order of the presiding judge or the judge appointed by the
presiding judge to supervise the grand jury. In no event shall more
than two additional grand juries be impaneled pursuant to this
section at the same time.
   (d) Whenever additional grand juries are impaneled pursuant to
this section, they may inquire into any matters that are subject to
grand jury inquiry and shall have the sole and exclusive jurisdiction
to return indictments, except for any matters that the regular grand
jury is inquiring into at the time of its impanelment.
   (e) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in the County of Los
Angeles, all persons qualified for jury service shall have an equal
opportunity to be considered for service as criminal grand jurors
within the county, and that they have an obligation to serve, when
summoned for that purpose. All persons selected for an additional
criminal grand jury shall be selected at random from a source or
sources reasonably representative of a cross section of the
population that is eligible for jury service in the county.




905.  In all counties there shall be at least one grand jury drawn
and impaneled in each year.



905.5.  (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), the
grand jury shall be impaneled and serve during the fiscal year of the
county in the manner provided in this chapter.
   (b) The board of supervisors of a county may provide that the
grand jury shall be impaneled and serve during the calendar year. The
board of supervisors shall provide for an appropriate transition
from fiscal year term to calendar year term or from calendar year
term to fiscal year term for the grand jury. The provisions of
subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 901 shall not be deemed a
limitation on any appropriate transition provisions as determined by
resolution or ordinance; and, except as otherwise provided in this
chapter, no transition grand jury shall serve more than 18 months.



906.  The order shall designate the time at which the drawing will
take place. The names of the grand jurors shall be drawn, and the
list of names certified and summoned, as is provided for drawing and
summoning trial jurors. The names of any persons drawn, who are not
impaneled upon the grand jury, may be again placed in the grand jury
box.



907.  Any grand juror summoned, who willfully and without reasonable
excuse fails to attend, may be attached and compelled to attend and
the court may also impose a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50),
upon which execution may issue. If the grand juror was not personally
served, the fine shall not be imposed until upon an order to show
cause an opportunity has been offered the grand juror to be heard.




908.  If the required number of the persons summoned as grand jurors
are present and not excused, the required number shall constitute
the grand jury. If more than the required number of persons are
present, the jury commissioner shall write their names on separate
ballots, which the jury commissioner shall fold so that the names
cannot be seen, place them in a box, and draw out the required number
of them. The persons whose names are on the ballots so drawn shall
constitute the grand jury. If less than the required number of
persons are present, the panel may be filled as provided in Section
211 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If more of the persons summoned
to complete a grand jury attend than are required, the requisite
number shall be obtained by writing the names of those summoned and
not excused on ballots, depositing them in a box, and drawing as
provided above.



908.1.  When, after the grand jury consisting of the required number
of persons has been impaneled pursuant to law, the membership is
reduced for any reason, vacancies within an existing grand jury may
be filled, so as to maintain the full membership at the required
number of persons, by the jury commissioner, in the presence of the
court, drawing out sufficient names to fill the vacancies from the
grand jury box, pursuant to law, or from a special venire as provided
in Section 211 of the Code of Civil Procedure. A person selected as
a grand juror to fill a vacancy pursuant to this section may not vote
as a grand juror on any matter upon which evidence has been taken by
the grand jury prior to the time of the person's selection.




908.2.  (a) Upon the decision of the superior court pursuant to
Section 901 to adopt this method of selecting grand jurors, when the
required number of persons have been impaneled as the grand jury
pursuant to law, the jury commissioner shall write the names of each
person on separate ballots. The jury commissioner shall fold the
ballots so that the names cannot be seen, place them in a box, and
draw out half of the ballots, or in a county where the number of
grand jurors is uneven, one more than half. The persons whose names
are on the ballots so drawn shall serve for 12 months until July 1 of
the following year. The persons whose names are not on the ballots
so drawn shall serve for six months until January 1 of the following
year.
   (b) Each subsequent year, on January 2 and July 2, a sufficient
number of grand jurors shall be impaneled to replace those whose
service concluded the previous day. Those persons impaneled on
January 2 shall serve until January 1 of the following year. Those
persons impaneled on July 2 shall serve until July 1 of the following
year. A person may not serve on the grand jury for more than one
year.
   (c) The provisions of subdivisions (a) and (b) do not apply to the
selection of grand jurors for an additional grand jury authorized
pursuant to Section 904.6.



909.  Before accepting a person drawn as a grand juror, the court
shall be satisfied that such person is duly qualified to act as such
juror. When a person is drawn and found qualified he shall be
accepted unless the court, on the application of the juror and before
he is sworn, excuses him from such service for any of the reasons
prescribed in this title or in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section
190), Title 3, Part 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure.



910.  No challenge shall be made or allowed to the panel from which
the grand jury is drawn, nor to an individual grand juror, except
when made by the court for want of qualification, as prescribed in
Section 909.


911.  The following oath shall be taken by each member of the grand
jury: "I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and of the State of California, and
all laws made pursuant to and in conformity therewith, will
diligently inquire into, and true presentment make, of all public
offenses against the people of this state, committed or triable
within this county, of which the grand jury shall have or can obtain
legal evidence. Further, I will not disclose any evidence brought
before the grand jury, nor anything which I or any other grand juror
may say, nor the manner in which I or any other grand juror may have
voted on any matter before the grand jury. I will keep the charge
that will be given to me by the court."



912.  From the persons summoned to serve as grand jurors and
appearing, the court shall appoint a foreman. The court shall also
appoint a foreman when the person already appointed is excused or
discharged before the grand jury is dismissed.




913.  If a grand jury is not in existence, the Attorney General may
demand the impaneling of a grand jury by those charged with the duty
to do so, and upon such demand by him, it shall be their duty to do
so.