905.17 Who may be present during session of grand jury.—
(1) No person shall be present at the sessions of the grand jury except the witness under examination, one attorney representing the witness for the sole purpose of advising and consulting with the witness, the state attorney and her or his assistant state attorneys, designated assistants as provided for in s. 27.18, the court reporter or stenographer, and the interpreter. The stenographic records, notes, and transcriptions made by the court reporter or stenographer shall be filed with the clerk who shall keep them in a sealed container not subject to public inspection. The notes, records, and transcriptions are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution and shall be released by the clerk only on request by a grand jury for use by the grand jury or on order of the court pursuant to s. 905.27.
(2) The witness may be represented before the grand jury by one attorney. This provision is permissive only and does not create a right to counsel for the grand jury witness. The attorney for the witness shall not be permitted to address the grand jurors, raise objections, make arguments, or otherwise disrupt proceedings before the grand jury. The attorney for the witness shall be permitted to advise and counsel the witness and shall be subject to the provisions of s. 905.27 in the same manner as all who appear before the grand jury. An attorney or law firm may not represent more than one person or entity in an investigation before the same grand jury or successive grand juries in the same investigation.
(3) No person shall be present while the grand jurors are deliberating or voting, except that an interpreter appointed pursuant to s. 90.6063(2) may be present after swearing to refrain from personal interjection and to uphold the secrecy of the proceeding.
(4) An intentional violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute indirect criminal contempt of court. Further, and in addition to any contempt sanction, if the court determines that the attorney for the witness has violated any of the provisions of subsection (2), then the court may take such measures as are necessary to ensure compliance with subsection (2), including exclusion of the offending attorney from the grand jury room.
(5) This section does not apply to proceedings of the statewide grand jury created in s. 905.33.
History.—s. 96, ch. 19554, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 8663(96); s. 1, ch. 26584, 1951; s. 54, ch. 70-339; s. 2, ch. 74-627; s. 1, ch. 92-154; s. 3, ch. 93-125; s. 1, ch. 94-74; s. 434, ch. 96-406; s. 1833, ch. 97-102; s. 2, ch. 2024-7.
