People v. Sayavong

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

The Criminal Procedure Law safeguards the secrecy of Grand Jury proceedings by carefully circumscribing the categories of persons who may be present during that function. The question we are called upon to decide here is whether a police investigator who will serve as a fact witness at Grand Jury proceedings concerning the sexual abuse of several children may be present during the children’s testimony as a video camera operator under the authority of CPL 190.25 (3). We conclude that the officer’s status as a witness disqualified him from employment as a video…