Report of Grand Jury of Carroll County, November Term, 1976, In re

• Decision Date: 01 November 1976
• Citation: 39 Md.App. 472,386 A.2d 1246
• Parties: In re REPORT OF GRAND JURY OF CARROLL COUNTY,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 472

39 Md.App. 472

386 A.2d 1246

In re REPORT OF GRAND JURY OF CARROLL COUNTY, NOVEMBER TERM, 1976.

No. 1007.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

June 8, 1978.

Jacob Yosef Miliman, Baltimore, for appellant.

Deborah K. Handel, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom were Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen. and Thomas E. Hickman, State's Atty. for Carroll County on brief, for appellee.

Argued before THOMPSON, DAVIDSON and MASON, JJ.

THOMPSON, Judge.

In this appeal we are asked to determine whether a grand jury has the power to report publicly specific instances of non-criminal misconduct of public officials. We determine that they do not and shall reverse.

The grand jury impaneled in the Circuit Court for Carroll County for its 1976 November Term included the following in its report:

"The Grand Jury has heard testimony concerning an investigation of allegations of impropriety on the part of employees of the Board of Education. Three employees were indicted by our predecessor and each has entered a plea of guilty to a felony prior to our meeting. The State's Attorney has apprised us of the fact that there were many rumors and allegations made prior to and during this investigation which was commenced at the request of the Board of Education. It appears to us now that what occurred was a remarkable incidence of mismanagement in the administration of Dr. Furno, Assistant Superintendent for Administration during the period 1972 to 1976. As examples we cite the following:

"In 1974 it came to light that a high school gymnasium floor and an elementary school gymnasium floor were in need of repair. The testimony we have heard indicates that these two floors could have been repaired at a combined cost of less than $3000.00. Dr. Furno, in spite of being informed of this fact by those in the employ of the School Board supervising school construction, ordered these floors replaced rather than repaired. He went about having this done contrary to bidding procedures established by the School Board. The final cost of this needless expense was a total of $37,823.10, of the money of the taxpayers of this County.

"During the 1973-1975 school years when an 'austerity' program was in effect in the school system due to a shortage of funds, teachers were short of instructional materials in the school system. The financial records of the Board of Education during this same period of time reflect that Dr. Furno purchased several hundred dollars of books for his personal use, paid for by the Board of Education. If these books concerned the areas of school administration in which he was involved this would be understandable. They did not. Their titles are self explanatory and we recount several here: I Fought With Geronimo; Isleta Paintings; A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives of Outrages Committed by the Indians in their Wars with the White People; The Law in America and Great Crimes and Trials; Patton; Authentic Story of the Totem Pole Monuments in Cedar; Minerals Yearbook, Volume III.

"In September of 1975, the Director of Finance of the Board of Education called to the attention of Dr. Furno the fact that approximately $80,000.00 of School Funds provided by the State and Federal Governments had been misallocated by the County into areas other than food funds, the area for which they were specifically provided. Use of these funds for anything other than food for school children jeopardized hundreds of thousands of dollars in State and Federal funds allocated to Carroll County and the Board of Education. The remedy was a simple change in the records of allocations, with plenty of time for change since the school year had just begun. Dr. Furno advised that he would take care of the situation. More than six months later an investigator of the State's Attorney found these funds, still misallocated. Fortunately sufficient funds and time remained in the fiscal year to make the adjustment without the forfeiture or penalties due to mismanagement.

"Although there were other problems existant the above is a sufficient illustration." The report concluded by recommending eight changes in the financial procedures of the Board of Education.

Dr. Furno filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Carroll County requesting that all references to him be expunged from the report. The court refused the request, ruling that the report was proper, based on In re Presentment of Special Grand Jury Impaneled January, 1969, 315 F.Supp. 662 (D.Md.1970). In making its ruling the court declined to follow the decision of the Court of Appeals in In re Report of Grand Jury, 152 Md. 616, 137 A. 370 (1927), concluding it would no longer be followed.

In In re Report of Grand Jury, supra, a case strikingly similar to the present case, the Court expunged specific references to public officials concerning their inept handling of the construction of a high school. After reviewing the history of the grand jury and its powers the Court delineated its function, stating:

"The function of the grand jury is to investigate violations of the criminal law, and in performing this function their inquisitorial powers are unlimited. If, however, having exercised these powers in any given case, there is lacking sufficient evidence to indict, their duty in that particular case ceases, and, under their oath, nothing transpiring within their body should be made public. It is apparent that this should be so, for the protection of the good name and reputation of the people, otherwise a condition would exist which the establishment and zealous maintenance of the grand jury was intended to prevent; namely, that of having an individual publicly charged with misconduct without probable cause. If there is sufficient evidence of the commission of a crime, it is the duty of the grand jury to indict, that is, to take such action as will bring the party to trial; if there is not, the...