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Article II, Section 20 of the Montana Constitution is amended as follows
Section 20. Initiation of proceedings. (1) Criminal offenses within the
jurisdiction of any court inferior to the district court shall be
prosecuted by complaint. All criminal actions in district court, except
those on appeal, shall be prosecuted either by information, after
examination and commitment by a magistrate or after leave granted by
the court, or by indictment without such examination, commitment or
leave.
(2) A grand jury shall consist of eleven persons, of whom eight must
concur to find an indictment. A grand jury shall be drawn and summoned only at the discretion and order of the district judge or as follows:
Whenever one-half of one
percent of the registered electors of a county have signed a petition
to summon a grand jury and have submitted the petition signatures to
the county elections officer, a grand jury shall be summoned and empanelled
by the first judge of the district court for the county to receive the petition. A grand jury
so summoned and empanelled must first consider any cause advanced by
those who have brought and signed the petition, but in any case, the
grand jury only may be the sole judge of its duration and of the
breadth and depth of its inquiry. A grand jury so summoned must
be accessible by the public. An indictment or true bill brought
by such grand jury must be prosecuted by the county attorney for the
county in which an alleged offense has occurred, regardless of
prosecutorial discretion. A county attorney who fails to
prosecute an indictment or true bill brought by a grand jury, within
ninety days of the indictment or true bill being handed down by the
grand jury, may himself be indicted for obstruction of justice and
official misconduct. If a grand jury summoned under this section
is unable to obtain the prosecution of an indictment or true bill by
the county attorney of the county wherein the alleged offense occurred,
the grand jury may compel prosecutorial assistance from the attorney
general or the grand jury may retain a private prosecutor, whose fees
shall be a lawful claim against the county where the alleged offense
occurred. A grand jury summoned under this section, in addition
to indictments, may seek court orders of mandate and prohibition to
remedy situations under their investigation, and may hire counsel
independent of the county attorney's office.
NEW SECTION. Effective date. This Act is effective upon passage and approval.