Grand Jury being called to probe two county cases

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The Putnam County Prosecutor's Office is calling for a Grand Jury to investigate a pair of undisclosed local cases.

In a Tuesday filing in Putnam Circuit Court, the Prosecutor's Office requested Judge Matt Headley to impanel a six-member citizen jury to conduct an investigation that may or may not result in criminal charges.

A grand jury is defined as a legal body empowered to conduct official proceedings that investigate potential criminal conduct and determine whether criminal charges should be brought.

Timothy Bookwalter

Everything surrounding a grand jury -- its subjects, testimony and even the jurors' identities -- is considered secret, with violators of those secrets facing potential misdemeanor criminal charges. If a grand jury does not return an indictment, the public might never learn what was being discussed.

All of which explains why few details can be revealed at this time.

"There is a lot I can't say," Putnam County Prosecutor Timothy Bookwalter explained Tuesday afternoon. "What I can say is I am requesting a Grand Jury on two separate criminal matters."

One reportedly involves possible official misconduct, while the other matter is a criminal investigation that was initiated by the Indiana State Police.

It was not known whether the cases in question are related to any prior or ongoing investigation in Putnam County.

"By law," Bookwalter told the Banner Graphic, "Grand Jury proceedings are not public so I can't comment further."

The circuit court judge will choose six citizens to serve as grand jurors and the matters must be completed within 90 days of the Grand Jury being impaneled.

Bookwalter said that may require potential jurors to be called and complete questionnaires, a process that could mean the impaneling may take two to three weeks to begin.

The request for a Grand Jury is the first in Bookwalter's 10 years in the Prosecutor's Office. It is likely the first time in more than 20 years that a Grand Jury has been requested to help vet a problematic local criminal case.

Typically, a Grand Jury is considered a tool for prosecutors to exercise a fair amount of leeway in issuing subpoenas to reluctant witnesses, compelling them to testify when they might otherwise have been unwilling to speak with investigators.

Official misconduct is defined in the Indiana Criminal Code as occurring when a public servant knowingly or intentionally:

-- Commits an offense in the performance of the public servant's official duties.

-- Solicits, accepts or agrees to accept from an appointee or employee any property other than what the public servant is authorized by law to accept as a condition of continued employment.

-- Acquires or divests himself or herself of a pecuniary interest in any property, transaction or enterprise or aids another person to do so based on information obtained by virtue of the public servant's office that official action that has not been made public is contemplated.

-- Fails to deliver public records and property in the public servant's custody to the public servant's successor in office when that successor qualifies; commits official misconduct, a Level 6 felony.

Conviction on a Level 6 felony is punishable by from six months to 2-1/2 years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

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