Euresti v. Valdez

I join in Justice Seerden’s opinion but write to address certain issues that are raised by Chief Justice Nye’s dissent and to more clearly define and analyze the legal precedents implicated. The secrecy or “privilege” of the investigatory files of the county attorney is not an issue, for the plaintiff below seeks only that evidence from those files that was presented to the grand jury. At issue is whether the testimony of witnesses before the grand jury is imbued with secrecy so that testimony may not be discovered by this plaintiff in a malicious prosecution action.

The deliberations of the…