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Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 20.02. Proceedings Secret

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Code of Criminal Procedure > Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Article 20.02. Proceedings Secret

Art. 20.02. [374] [425] [413] PROCEEDINGS SECRET.  (a) The 
proceedings of the grand jury shall be secret.
	(b)  A grand juror, bailiff, interpreter, stenographer or 
person operating an electronic recording device, or person 
preparing a typewritten transcription of a stenographic or 
electronic recording who discloses anything transpiring before the 
grand jury, regardless of whether the thing transpiring is 
recorded, in the course of the official duties of the grand jury 
shall be liable to a fine as for contempt of the court, not 
exceeding five hundred dollars, imprisonment not exceeding thirty 
days, or both such fine and imprisonment.
	(c)  A disclosure of a record made under Article 20.012, a 
disclosure of a typewritten transcription of that record, or a 
disclosure otherwise prohibited by Subsection (b) or Article 20.16 
may be made by the attorney representing the state in performing the 
attorney's duties to a grand juror serving on the grand jury before 
whom the record was made, another grand jury, a law enforcement 
agency, or a prosecuting attorney, as permitted by the attorney 
representing the state and determined by the attorney as necessary 
to assist the attorney in the performance of the attorney's duties.  
The attorney representing the state shall warn any person the 
attorney authorizes to receive information under this subsection of 
the person's duty to maintain the secrecy of the information.  Any 
person who receives information under this subsection and discloses 
the information for purposes other than those permitted by this 
subsection is subject to punishment for contempt in the same manner 
as persons who violate Subsection (b).
	(d)  The defendant may petition a court to order the 
disclosure of information otherwise made secret by this article or 
the disclosure of a recording or typewritten transcription under 
Article 20.012 as a matter preliminary to or in connection with a 
judicial proceeding.  The court may order disclosure of the 
information, recording, or transcription on a showing by the 
defendant of a particularized need.
	(e)  A petition for disclosure under Subsection (d) must be 
filed in the district court in which the case is pending.  The 
defendant must also file a copy of the petition with the attorney 
representing the state, the parties to the judicial proceeding, and 
any other persons required by the court to receive a copy of the 
petition.  All persons receiving a petition under this subsection 
are entitled to appear before the court.  The court shall provide 
interested parties with an opportunity to appear and present 
arguments for the continuation of or end to the requirement of 
secrecy.
	(f)  A person who receives information under Subsection (d) 
or (e) and discloses that information is subject to punishment for 
contempt in the same manner as a person who violates Subsection (b).
	(g)  The attorney representing the state may not disclose 
anything transpiring before the grand jury except as permitted by 
Subsections (c), (d), and (e).

Acts 1965, 59th Leg., vol. 2, p. 317, ch. 722, eff. Jan. 1, 1966.  
Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1011, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 
1995.

Last modified: August 11, 2007