IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
MIDDLE DISTRICT
IN RE:APPLICATION OF JOSH SHAPIRO, No. 138 MM 2020
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
REQUESTING AN ORDER DIRECTING
THAT A SUCCESSOR MULTICOUNTY
INVESTIGATING GRAND JURY HAVING
STATEWIDE JURISDICTION BE
CONVENED
ORDER
AND NOW, this 8th day of September, 2020, upon consideration of the Application
of Josh Shapiro, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it
appearing to the Court that the granting of the Application is appropriate under the
Investigating Grand Jury Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 4541 et seq., it is hereby ORDERED as
follows:
1. The Attorney General's Application requesting that an additional
multicounty investigating grand jury having statewide jurisdiction ("Forty-Seventh
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury") be convened is hereby GRANTED.
2. The Honorable Lillian H. Ransom, First Judicial District, Philadelphia
County, Pennsylvania, is hereby designated as Supervising Judge of the Forty -Seventh
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury. All applications and motions relating to the work of
the Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury-including motions for disclosure
of grand jury transcripts and evidence-shall be presented to the Supervising Judge.
With respect to investigations, presentments, reports, and all other proper activities of the
Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, Judge Ransom, as Supervising
Judge, shall have jurisdiction over all counties throughout the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. Judge Ransom may temporarily designate another jurist who has been
appointed by this Court as the Supervising Judge of a multicounty investigating grand jury
having statewide jurisdiction to serve as Acting Supervising Judge of the Forty-Seventh
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury when Judge Ransom is absent or otherwise
unavailable.
3. Montgomery County is designated as the location for the Forty -Seventh
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury proceedings.
4. The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania is directed to draw six counties at
random from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania pursuant to the provisions of Rule
241(A)(1) and 241(C)(2) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, and these six
counties, plus Montgomery, shall together supply jurors for the Forty-Seventh Statewide
Investigating Grand Jury.
5. The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania is directed to obtain the names
and addresses of persons residing in the aforesaid counties who are eligible by law to
serve as grand jurors pursuant to the provisions of Rule 241(A)(2) of the Pennsylvania
Rules of Criminal Procedure.
6. The total of such names of prospective jurors to be collected shall be two
hundred, of which fifty shall be selected at random and summoned by the Court
Administrator of Pennsylvania to Montgomery County. The Supervising Judge shall
impanel the Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury from this panel of fifty
prospective jurors. If it becomes necessary, additional prospective jurors shall be
summoned by the Supervising Judge from among the remaining one hundred fifty
prospective jurors.
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7. The Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury will remain in
session for not more than eighteen months following the date that it is impaneled by the
Supervising Judge.
8. The Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or his
designee in charge of the Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, may apply,
if necessary, to the Supervising Judge for an extension of the term of the Forty -Seventh
Statewide Investigating Grand Jury for an additional period of up to six months, if, at the
end of its original term, the Investigating Grand Jury determines by majority vote that it
has not completed its business. The Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury's
term, including any extension thereof, shall not exceed twenty-four months from the date
it was originally impaneled by the Supervising Judge.
9. The Supervising Judge shall maintain control of transcripts and evidence,
as provided by Rule 229 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. The
Supervising Judge shall determine the manner and location with respect to storage of
transcripts. The Supervising Judge shall control disclosure of matters occurring before
the Forty -Seventh Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, as provided by 42 Pa.C.S. § 4549.
10. The Supervising Judge shall have the same duties and powers relating to
maintaining grand jury secrecy with respect to each expired multicounty investigating
grand jury having statewide jurisdiction that had convened in Montgomery County or any
other county identified in Rule 241(C)(2).
honia-6-
OMAS G. SAYLO
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania
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