In the course of my job, I have learned/heard there are such things as:

Administrative subpoenas,

Justice of the peace subpoenas, and

Grand jury subpoenas (for felony level offenses).

I have worked with grand jury subpoenas but the other two types of subpoenas are new to me.

I am investigating a misdemeanor level offense and I have a phone record lead to my suspect. I cannot use the grand jury subpoena to get the subscriber information but I was told to use a JP subpoena. That is great (I hope) but I would like to educate myself about the different types of subpoenas available for use in my profession. Would someone please give me a link or direction of where I can go to study more about the limits, purposes, effects, and such relating to JP subpoenas and administrative subpoenas (or any other obscure subpoenas that may help me do better at investigations).

Thank you in advance for any help.

Best,

Craig Jones

Craig,

A Grand Jury subpoena can be used for any criminal offense Class B or above when the criminal case has not been filed (information w/ clerk's office) or indicted. There are 2 "kinds" of GJ subpoenas - an in-county and an out-of-county. Most likely if you are wanting to subpoena telephone records, you will need an out of county GJ subpoena as the subpoena will be directed to the provider's main office in some other state.

The other "common" supboena is a court subpoena issued by the district/county clerk on a specific case that is already filed with them.

I've never heard of a "JP subpoena" for a criminal case Class B or above...JP's don't have jurisdiction on those cases.

Did your DA/CA office tell you to use a "JP subpoena"? If so, then maybe your county is structured differently than most. If you didn't consult your DA/CA's office, then I would strongly suggest you talk with an Investigator in the DA/CA's office for help.

Also, you may want to invest in a copy of TDCAA's
"Investigator Desk Reference Manual" for discussions of subpoenas (including of state) and actual examples...

If I can help explain more, please contact me offline at (512) 943-1111.

Melissa--thanks.

If using the grand jury subpoenas for misdemeanor cases, which prosecutor can sign it?

Our county has a felony prosecutor who handles four counties. Must the DA sign those warrants for our misdemeanor investigations that require cell phone subpoenas, etc.?

Every now and again you hear about someone trying to get a judge (usually the requests I hear about are made to municipal judges, but it sounds like the JP subpoena situation you were hoping you could use) to issue a subpoena for evidence when there is no case pending before that judge.

There is no law permitting that. Don't do it. If you need convincing, talk to the lawyers who defend federal civil rights cases brought against your officers.

I've never heard of anybody but the Feds issuing "administrative" subpoenas. I'd avoid any document in a criminal case commanding appearance or compliance or setting forth penalties for lack of compliance unless it's issued by the court in a pending case or a grand jury.

I would supposed that an Admin Subpoena would be like the kind issued by the Workers Comp Comm'n and other state agencies for administrative hearings.

I should be more specific--the above question was about JPs, but the answer explained the grand jury subpoenas. My question is more in line with the answer above...can a misdemeanor prosecutor whose office does not call the grand jury sign a grand jury subpoena for the cell phone warrants? If not, are there other subpoenas we can use, or do we need to ask the felony prosecutor's office to do it for us?

Melissa, please help to settle an argument. Do you have citeable authority re: grand jury subpoena for a Class A or B? Thanks.

quote:

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Originally posted by DJC:
Melissa, please help to settle an argument. Do you have citeable authority re: grand jury subpoena for a Class A or B? Thanks.

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I think it is implied in the language of the two grand jury subpoena statutes dealing with in county and out of county witnesses, Art. 24.15 and Art. 24.16. While Art. 24.15 does not mention misdemeanors (or felonies for that matter), Art. 24.16 for "out-of- county" witnesses clearly does. To me, this seems to imply that Art. 24.15 allows grand jury subpoenas for "in-county" misdemeanor cases as well, particualrly given that 24.15 does not retrict itself to felonies.

With respect to the question regarding who can request the GJ subpoena, the DA or CA, the only language in the statute is "the State's attorney." As the elected CA with misdemeanor juris and felony juvinile jurisdiction, I interpret that to include me. If I am wrong, someone please inform me and cite me the authority.

The only case law I recall seeing on this issue was dicta in an opinion about a DWI arrest where it mentions a CA requested a grand jury subpoena for the blood. No mention was made in the case about whether the CA exceeded his/her authority or not in requesting the GJ subpoena.

Shain

First, Suzanne-

You stated cell phone "warrants". Do you mean subpoena or warrant? Just want to make sure we are on the same page and clear up confusion. I've never worked for a multi-county jurisdiction so I don't readily know the answer to the subpoena question. However, perhaps you can educate me.

How are you guys structured...is it a set # of prosecutors that travel around handling cases in each county?

Is the GJ called only by one county at a time or is it the Judicial District calling the GJ and it's just being hear in one particular county each time? In other words, does County "A" call a GJ (which is only made up of citizens from County "A") and are only cases that occurred in County "A" presented by a prosecutor assigned to County "A"? Or is it an "office" that appears in many counties and a GJ that covers many counties (made up of citizens from different counties) and cases presented regardless of where the offense occurred?

I don't know if each of the above is possible, but I would assume whichever scenario applies would then determine the powers and jurisdiction of that Grand Jury. BUT, someone out there has been in this boat before....please help with an answer as I'm curious now.

Second, DJC-

I believe Shain is correct about the authority for misdemeanors. That's also how we operate having adult misdemeanor and all juvenile jurisdiction as a County Attorney. We issue GJ subpoenas frequently for "records" needed for misdemeanor cases (medical, phone, computer) and then if it's a "live appearance witness" coordinate with our DA's office for sufficient time to present our case with this witness.

Further the CCP 20.03 defines "the attorney representing the state" as the AG, DA, CDA or CA. In addition to CCP 24.14 and 24.15 that Shain gave, look at CCP 20.11.

Hopefully, all this helps and someone who does work in a multi-county office can help with the rest of the answer.

Warrants were on the brain for a different reason. We have separate GJs in each county, called by the same District Judge and the same group of DA and ADAs.

Thanks for the references and interpretations--24.15 and 24.16 do seem to say that we can summons these witnesses also--or, more importantly, the records they keep.

I agree and make those same inferences, but that's not enough to let me win the argument so I was hoping there was something more out there that I was not aware of.