Stegmeier v. Long et al

[�1.] This petition for a writ of certiorari was filed by Stegmeier on August 14, 2022, and was tried to the court on August 17, 2022, on an expedited basis due to the exigent nature of the impending election.

[�2.] The people have initiated a proposed constitutional amendment which has been placed on the ballot as Amendment E. Amendment E is popularly referred to as the JAIL amendment. The proponents say that JAIL is an acronym for Judicial Accountability Initiated Law. They also refer to it as JAIL for Judges. Generally the initiated amendment to the state constitution would eliminate judicial immunity and allow judges to be sued for civil damages and to be indicted by a special grand jury for crimes. In addition, if the special grand jury indicted a judge, a petit jury would be impaneled to try the judge. A conviction by the petit jury would be a “strike” and a judge with three strikes would be removed and the judge would lose half of the judge's retirement. The process would be funded by taking 1.9% from the salary of all of the judges in SD.

[�3.] The full text of the proposed initiated JAIL constitutional amendment follows:

1. Definitions. Where appropriate, the singular shall include the plural; and for purposes of this Amendment, the following terms shall mean:

a. Blocking: Any act that impedes the lawful conclusion of a case, to include unreasonable delay and willful rendering of an unlawful or void judgment or order.

b. Judge: Justice, judge, magistrate judge, judge pro tem, and all other persons claiming to be shielded by judicial immunity.

d. Strike: An adverse immunity decision or a criminal conviction against a judge.

2. Immunity. No immunity shall extend to any judge of this State for any deliberate violation of law, fraud or conspiracy, intentional violation of due process of law, deliberate disregard of material facts, judicial acts without jurisdiction, blocking of a lawful conclusion of a case, or any deliberate violation of the Constitutions of South Dakota or the United States, notwithstanding Common Law, or any other contrary statute.

3. Special Grand Jury. For the purpose of returning power to the People, there is hereby created within this State a thirteen-member Special Grand Jury with statewide jurisdiction having power to judge both law and fact. This body shall exist independent of statutes governing county Grand Juries. Their responsibility shall be limited to determining, on an objective standard, whether any civil lawsuit against a judge would be frivolous or harassing, or fall within the exclusions of immunity as set forth in paragraph 2, and whether there is probable cause of criminal conduct by the judge complained against.

4. Professional Counsel. The Special Grand Jury shall have exclusive power to retain non-governmental advisors, special prosecutors, and investigators, as needed, who shall serve no longer than one year, and thereafter shall be ineligible to serve; except a special prosecutor may be retained to prosecute ongoing cases in which they are involved through all appeals and any complaints to the Special Grand Jury. The Special Grand Jury may hire clerical staff, as needed, without time limitation.

5. Establishment of Special Grand Jury Facility. Within ninety days following the passage of this Amendment, the Legislature shall provide a suitable facility for the Special Grand Jury centrally located in the State, but not within a mile of any judicial body.

6. Annual Funding. The Legislature shall cause to be deducted one and nine-tenths percent from the gross judicial salaries of all judges, which amount shall be deposited regularly into an exclusive trust account created by this Amendment in paragraph 10 for its operational expenses, together with filing fees under paragraph 7, surcharges under paragraph 8, forfeited benefits of disciplined judges under paragraph 18, and any fines imposed by sentencing under paragraph 16.

7. Filing Fees. Attorneys representing a party filing a civil complaint or answer before the Special Grand Jury, shall, at the time of filing, pay a fee equal to the filing fee due in a civil appeal to the State Supreme Court. Individuals filing a civil complaint or answer on their own behalf, before the Special Grand Jury, as a matter of right, shall, at the time of filing, post a fee of fifty dollars, or file a declaration, which shall remain confidential, stating they are impoverished and unable to pay and/or object to such fee.

8. Surcharges. Should this Amendment lack sufficient funding through its fines, fees, and forfeitures (including deductions in paragraph 6), the Legislature shall impose appropriate surcharges upon the civil court filing fees of corporate litigants as necessary to supplement the funding of this Amendment.

9. Compensation of Jurors. Each Juror shall receive a salary commensurate to that of a Circuit Court judge, prorated according to the number of days actually served by the Juror.

10. Annual Budget. The Special Grand Jury shall have an annual operational budget commensurate to double the combined salaries of the thirteen Jurors serving full time, which sum shall be initially deposited by the Legislature into an exclusive trust account to be annually administered by the State Treasurer. Should the trust balance, within any budget year, drop to less than an amount equivalent to the annual gross salaries of seven Circuit Court judges, the State Treasurer shall so notify the Legislature which shall replenish the account, prorated based on the actual average expenditures during the budget year. Should the trust balance in any subsequent year exceed the annual operational budget at the beginning of a new budget year, the State Treasurer shall transfer such excess to the state treasury.

11. Jurisdiction. The Special Grand Jury shall have exclusive power to appoint a foreperson, establish rules assuring their attendance, to provide internal discipline, and to remove any of its members on grounds of misconduct. The Special Grand Jury shall immediately assign a docket number to each complaint brought. Except as provided in paragraphs 17 and 22, no complaint of misconduct shall be considered by the Special Grand Jury unless the complainant shall have first attempted to exhaust all judicial remedies available in this State within the immediately preceding six-month period. (Such six-month period, however, shall not commence in complaints of prior fraud or blocking of a lawful conclusion until after the date the Special Grand Jury becomes functional. This provision applies remedially and retroactively.) Should the complainant opt to proceed to the United States Supreme Court, such six-month period shall commence upon the disposition by that Court.

12. Qualifications of Jurors. A Juror shall have attained to the age of thirty years, and have been nine years a citizen of the United States, and have been an inhabitant of South Dakota for two years immediately prior to having his/her name drawn. Those not eligible for Special Grand Jury service shall include elected and appointed officials, members of the State Bar, judges (active or retired), judicial, prosecutorial and law enforcement personnel, without other exclusion except previous adjudication of mental incapacity, imprisonment, or parole from a conviction of a felonious crime against persons.

13. Selection of Jurors. The Jurors shall serve without compulsion and their names shall be publicly drawn at random by the Secretary of State from the list of registered voters and any citizen submitting his/her name to the Secretary of State for such drawing. The initial Special Grand Jury shall be established within thirty days after the fulfillment of the requirements of paragraph 5.

14. Service of Jurors. Excluding the establishment of the initial Special Grand Jury, each Juror shall serve one year. No Juror shall serve more than once. On the first day of each month, one Juror shall be rotated off the Special Grand Jury and a new Juror seated, except in January it shall be two. Vacancies shall be filled on the first of the following month in addition to the Jurors regularly rotated, and the Juror drawn to fill a vacancy shall complete only the remainder of the term of the Juror replaced.

15. Procedures. The Special Grand Jury shall serve a copy of the filed complaint upon the subject judge and notice to the complainant of such service. The judge shall have twenty days to serve and file an answer. The complainant shall have fifteen days to reply to the judge's answer. (Upon timely request, the Special Grand Jury may provide for extensions for good cause.) In criminal matters, the Special Grand Jury shall have power to subpoena witnesses, documents, and other tangible evidence, and to examine witnesses under oath. The Special Grand Jury shall determine the causes properly before it with their reasoned findings in writing within one hundred twenty calendar days, serving on all parties their decision on whether or not immunity shall apply as a defense to any civil action that may thereafter be pursued against the judge. A rehearing may be requested of the Special Grand Jury within fifteen days with service upon the opposition. Fifteen days shall be allowed to reply thereto. Thereafter, the Special Grand Jury shall render final determination in writing within thirty days. All allegations in the complaint shall be liberally construed in favor of the complainant. The Jurors shall keep in mind, in making their decisions, that they are entrusted by the People of this State with the duty of restoring judicial accountability and a perception of justice, and are not to be swayed by artful presentation by the judge. They shall avoid all influence by judicial and government entities. The statute of limitations on any civil suit brought pursuant to this Amendment against a judge shall not commence until a final decision by the Special Grand Jury. Special Grand Jury files shall always remain public record following their final determination. A majority of seven shall determine any matter.

16. Indictment. Should the Special Grand Jury also find probable cause of criminal conduct on the part of any judge against whom a complaint is docketed, it shall have the power to indict such judge, except where double jeopardy attaches. The Special Grand Jury shall, without voir dire beyond personal impartiality, relationship, or linguistics, cause to be impaneled twelve special trial jurors, plus alternates, which trial jurors shall be instructed that they have power to judge both law and fact. The Special Grand Jury shall also select a non-governmental special prosecutor and a judge with no more than four years on the bench from a county other than that of the defendant judge, to maintain a fair and orderly proceeding. The trial jury shall be selected from the same pool of jury candidates as any regular jury. The special prosecutor shall thereafter prosecute the cause to a conclusion, having all the powers of any other prosecutor within this State. Upon conviction, sentencing shall be the province of the special trial jury, and not that of the selected judge. Such sentence shall conform to statutory provisions.

17. Criminal Procedures. In addition to any other provisions of this Amendment, a complaint for criminal conduct against a judge may be brought directly to the Special Grand Jury, when all the following conditions have been met: (1) an affidavit or declaration of criminal conduct has been lodged with the appropriate prosecutorial entity within ninety days of the commission of the alleged crime; (2) the prosecutor declines to prosecute, or one hundred twenty days has passed following the lodging of such affidavit or declaration, and prosecution has not commenced; (3) an indictment, if sought, has not been specifically declined on the merits by a county Grand Jury; and (4) the criminal statute of limitations has not run. Any criminal conviction (including a plea bargain) under any judicial process shall constitute a strike.

18. Removal. Whenever any judge has received three strikes, the judge shall be permanently removed from office, and thereafter shall not serve in any State judicial office. Judicial retirement for such removed judge shall not exceed one-half of the benefits to which such judge would have otherwise been entitled. Retirement shall not avert third-strike penalties.

19. Public Indemnification. No judge complained against, or sued civilly by a complainant pursuant to this Amendment, shall be defended at public expense or by any elected or appointed public counsel, nor shall any judge be reimbursed from public funds for any losses sustained under this Amendment.

20. Enforcement. No person exercising strict enforcement of the findings of a Special Grand Jury shall be held liable civilly, criminally, or in contempt.

21. Redress. The provisions of this Amendment are in addition to other redress that may exist and are not mutually exclusive.

22. Challenges. No judge under the jurisdiction of the Special Grand Jury, or potentially affected by the outcome of a challenge hereto, shall have any jurisdiction to sit in judgment of such challenge. Such pretended adjudication shall be null and void for all purposes and a complaint for such misconduct may be brought at any time, without charge, before the Special Grand Jury by class action, or by any adversely affected person.

23. Preeminence. Preeminence shall be given to this Amendment in any case of conflicts with statute, case law, common law, or constitutional provision. The foreperson of the Special Grand Jury shall read, or cause to be read, this Amendment to the respective Jurors every month. Should any part of this Amendment be determined unconstitutional, the remainder shall remain in full force and effect as though no challenge thereto existed.

[�4.] Attorney General Larry Long is charged by law with the duty to write a ballot statement describing the proposed constitutional amendment and the effect of a yes or no vote. SDCL 12-13-9, amended in 2006, provides the following:

Before the third Tuesday in May, the attorney general shall deliver to the secretary of state an attorney general's statement for each proposed amendment to the Constitution and each initiated measure. The attorney general's statement for each referred measure shall be delivered to the secretary of state before the second Tuesday in July. The attorney general's statement shall consist of the title, the explanation, and a clear and simple recitation of the effect of a "Yes" or "No" vote. The explanation shall be an objective, clear and simple summary to educate the voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment to the Constitution, the initiated measure, or the referred law. The attorney general shall include a description of the legal consequences of the proposed amendment, the initiated measure, or the referred href="name=SDU_2>law, including the likely exposure of the state to liability if the proposed amendment, the initiated measure, or the referred law is adopted. The explanation may not exceed two hundred words in length. On the printed ballots, the title shall be followed by the explanation and the explanation shall be followed by the recitation.

Citizens serving on juries, school boards, city councils, county commissions, or in similar capacities, and prosecutors and judges, are all required to make judicial decisions. Their decisions may be reversed on appeal, or they may be removed from office for misconduct or by election. However, they cannot be made to pay money damages for making such decisions. This allows them to do their job without fear of threat or reprisal from either side.

The proposed amendment to the State Constitution would allow thirteen volunteers to expose these decision makers to fines and jail, and strip them of public insurance coverage and up to one-half of their retirement benefits, for making decisions which break rules defined by the volunteers. Volunteers are drawn from those who submit their names and registered voters.

The proposed amendment is retroactive. The volunteers may penalize any decision-maker still alive for decisions made many years ago.

If approved, the proposed amendment will likely be challenged in court and may be declared to be in violation of the US Constitution. If so, the State may be required to pay attorneys fees and costs.

[�6.] Stegmeier complains that the attorney general's ballot statement is deficient in the following particulars:

[�7.] First, Stegmeier faults the attorney general for saying that the abolition of judicial immunity extends to “[c]itizens serving on juries, school boards, city councils, county commissions, or in similar capacities, and prosecutors” as well as judges.

[�8.] Second, Stegmeier faults the attorney general for saying that “[t]he proposed amendment . . . would allow thirteen volunteers to expose these decision makers to fines and jail, and strip them of public insurance coverage and up to one-half of their retirement benefits, for making decisions which break rules defined by the volunteers. Volunteers are drawn from those who submit their names and registered voters.” (Emphasis added.) Stegmeier objects the word “volunteers” and the negative connotation of “strip” in relation to the loss of insurance and retirement benefits.

[�9.] Third, at the hearing, Stegmeier asked the court to point out that decision makers need only fear reprisal if their actions are “deliberate.”

[�10.] Fourth, at the hearing, Stegmeier urged the court to require the attorney general to use the word “accountability” in connection with the abolition of judicial immunity.

[�11.] Ironically, Stegmeier wants a judge to help him make it easier to sue judges. Stegmeier must have more confidence in the courts than he lets on in his public statements and his proposed constitutional amendment.

[�12.] The attorney general pleads laches. He asserts that it is too late for Stegmeier to bring this action because the Secretary of State will not be able to get the ballots to the county auditors in time for absentee voting to begin on September 26, 2022. The attorney general posted the ballot statement on July 10, 2022. Stegmeier admitted he knew what the ballot statement said on July 13, 2022, but waited until the last day for certifying ballots to bring his lawsuit.

[�13.] On July 26, 2022, within 13 days of the attorney general's posting of the ballot statement, Stegmeier wrote to the attorney general seeking redress. Stegmeier should not be faulted for first attempting to resolve the matter short of litigation. Only when that failed, did Stegmeier file this petition for certiorari. I find that Stegmeier was expeditious in his efforts to bring this matter to the court.

[�14.] The Secretary of State complains that there is not enough time to complete the process of printing the ballots before September 26, 2022, if this matter is not resolved by August 18, 2022, leaving this Court with less than 24 hours to make a decision. However, accuracy should not be sacrificed on the alter of expediency.

[�15.] When it comes to the public's right to vote, it is never too late to seek redress in the courts. The “open courts” provision of the SD Const provides:

All courts shall be open, and every man for an injury done him in his property, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice, administered without denial or delay.

�20 of Article VI of the South Dakota Const (emphasis added). In addition, state law provides:

The circuit court is always open for the purposes of hearing and determining all actions, special proceedings, motions, and applications of whatever kind or character, and whether of a civil or criminal nature, arising under the laws of the state . . . .

SDCL 16-6-16 (emphasis added). Anything can be fixed until they run the juice through your client. Now, with modern medicine, that might even be able to be fixed.

[�16.] Therefore, the attorney general's motion to dismiss for laches is denied.

[�17.] With an eye toward the future and a hand on the throttle, perhaps the Legislature should look to Montana which has a statute that allows 10 days for parties aggrieved by the ballot statement to appeal to district court and 5 days to appeal to the supreme court from district court. Montana Code Annotated 13-27-316. At least then there would be an admonition for expedition and a standard for compliance.

[�18.] SDCL 12-13-9 requires in part that “The explanation shall be an objective, clear and simple summary to educate the voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment to the Constitution . . . .” SDCL 12-13-9 (emphasis added).

[�19.] SDCL 12-13-9 can be distilled into four elements as it relates to this case: the explanation must 1) be objective, 2) be clear and simple, 3) educate the voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment and 4) describe the legal consequences.

[�20.] Stegmeier objects to the attorney general's statement that the abolition of judicial immunity extends to “[c]itizens serving on juries, school boards, city councils, county commissions, or in similar capacities, and prosecutors.” Stegmeier claims the proposed JAIL amendment only applies to judges.

[�21.] Usually, objective means that something can be measured by a definite standard. For example, if fishermen can keep a walleye which is more than 14 inches long, this is an objective standard. Get out a ruler and the walleye is either too short or long enough. The only truly objective standard in SDCL 12-13-9 is that the statement cannot exceed 200 words. I count 185 words in the statement; therefore, it is within the 200 word limit.

[�22.] If the ballot statement is true, it goes a long way toward being objective. Stegmeier first complains that the proposed amendment only applies to judges and not to “citizens serving on juries, school boards, city councils, county commissions, or in similar capacities, and prosecutors” as stated in the attorney general's ballot statement.

[�23.] The amendment includes the following in the definitions in subdivision 1 of section 1:

Judge: Justice, judge, magistrate judge, judge pro tem, and all other persons claiming to be shielded by judicial immunity.

[�24.] Stegmeier once thought it was true. In an answer to an article in the Madison Daily Leader which said the JAIL amendment applied to school boards, city councils, county commissions, professional licensing boards and every citizen board performing quasi-judicial functions, Stegmeier took out a paid political announcement in which he agreed with the author of the article and said:

[A]ny governmental employee (of any stripe, shape, or flavor) previously accustomed to violating the rights of South Dakota citizens while hiding behind the bogus doctrine called “judicial immunity”, will now have to shape up or ship out.

Stegmeier cannot claim a better version of the facts than he previously claimed. McElhaney v. City of Edgemont, 2002 SD 159, �14, 655 NW2d 441, 445.

[�25.] The question, however, is not what Stegmeier thinks or says, but whether judicial immunity applies to persons other than judges.

[�29.] In South Dakota, court service officers have judicial immunity when preparing pre-sentence investigations. Hansen v. Kjellsen, 2002 SD 1, 638 NW2d 548.

[�31.] Grand jurors[1] have judicial immunity. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 US 409, 424, 96 SCt 984, 47 LEd2d 128 (1976); Lomtevas v. Cardozo, 2006 WL 229908 (EDNY 2006); Bliven v. Hunt, 418 FSupp2d 135 (EDNY 2005).

[�32.] Bailiffs have judicial immunity. Robinson v. Freeze, 15 F.3d 107 (8thCir 1994).

[�33.] Prosecutors have judicial immunity. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 US 409, 424, 96 SCt 984, 47 LEd2d 128 (1976).

[�37.] In Forrester v. White, 484 US 219, 108 SCt 538, 98 LE2d 555 (1988), the United States Supreme Court adopted a “functional approach” to judicial immunity. Under the functional approach, the Court examines the following:

[T]he nature of the functions with which a particular official or class of officials has been lawfully entrusted, and we seek to evaluate the effect that exposure to particular forms of liability would likely have on the appropriate exercise of those functions. Officials who seek exemption from personal liability have the burden of showing that such an exemption is justified by overriding considerations of public policy ... .

484 US at 224, 108 SCt at 542, 98 LE2d at 563. The Court acknowledged that there are difficulties attempting to draw the line “between truly judicial acts, for which immunity is appropriate, and acts that simply happened to have been done by judges.” 484 US at 227, 108 SCt at 544, 98 LE2d at 565. Immunity is only justified by the functions it protects, and not by the person to whom it is attached. Id.

[�38.] It is the function performed not the title of the official that determines whether the citizen is protected by judicial immunity.

[�39.] Consequently, judicial immunity may extend to any decision maker who exercises judicial functions: petit jurors, grand jurors, school boards, county commissions, city councils, professional and occupational licensing boards, prosecutors and other attorneys.

[�40.] The attorney general's statement about who has judicial immunity is true and is objective.

[�41.] Stegmeier objects to the use of the word “volunteers” to describe the members of the special grand jury.

[�42.] Use of the term “volunteers” implies that the special grand jury envisioned by the proposed amendment is a group of hooded vigilantes riding the range with rope looking to hang the first judge they find. This is patently not true. The JAIL amendment does not authorize capital punishment. Nor does Stegmeier wear a hood. Instead, Stegmeier wears the two stars and uniform of a major general[2] as South Dakota's “Jailer in Chief.”

[�43.] The special grand jury created if the proposed amendment is adopted “shall be publicly drawn at random by the Secretary of State from the list of registered voters and any citizen submitting his/her name.” Paragraph 13 of the proposed constitutional amendment (emphasis added). The petition to amend the constitution with the JAIL provision was signed by more than 40,000 persons. Assuming that every signatory of the petition volunteered for special grand jury service, that would constitute only 10% of the prospective panel of 488,934 registered voters (as of the 2006 primary election) plus any volunteers from which the special grand jury would be drawn. The chance of all thirteen special grand jurors being volunteers when drawing would be small since presumably all 40,000+ who signed the petition were registered voters subject to summons to the special grand jury anyway.

[�44.] Nor are the special grand jurors volunteers in the ordinary sense of the word. Volunteers frequently serve without pay and the special grand jurors will be paid the same salary received by a circuit judge.

[�45.] The attorney general should change the word “volunteers” to “special grand jurors” which is a more accurate, objective, clear and simple term.

[�46.] Stegmeier characterized the term “strip” as an “Oooohhh-word[3]” with a negative connotation in connection with the portion of the attorney general's statement that says the special grand jury is allowed “to strip [decision makers] of public insurance coverage and up to one-half of their retirement benefits.” (Emphasis added.)

[�47.] The attorney general's description is entirely accurate and the court approves of the use of the term “strip” in connection with the special grand jury's authority under the proposed JAIL amendment.

[�48.] At the hearing, Stegmeier asked the court to point out that decision makers need only fear reprisal if their actions are “deliberate.” Stegmeier asserts that judges will only be “jailed” if they deliberately violate the law, deliberately ignore material facts or deliberately violate the state or federal constitution.

[�49.] Stegmeier's argument is disingenuous at best. Judges do not accidentally decide a case or accidentally sign an order or accidentally send someone to prison. Judges do not accidentally do anything. Every act a judge does is deliberate. Deciding a case is called “the deliberative process” and juries are sent out to “deliberate.”

[�50.] It is facetious to suggest that judges need only fear reprisal for deliberate acts when all judicial acts are deliberate. The supreme court does not reverse a judge for accidentally committing an error. A judge is reversed for abuse of discretion, not lack of discretion. A judge is reversed for being clearly erroneous, not accidentally erroneous.

[�51.] The attorney general need not include the term “deliberate” in the ballot statement.

[�52.] At the hearing, Stegmeier urged the court to require the attorney general to use the word “accountability” in connection with his description of the abolition of judicial immunity.

[�53.] The attorney general could have said with a straight face that the real purpose and effect of the proposed JAIL amendment is to destroy justice in South Dakota by harassment of public decisions makers with lawsuits, but he did not. His actual description is quite tame.

[�54.] Stegmeier's saying the proposed JAIL amendment is about accountability does not make it so. Thompson v. Mehlhaff, 2005 SD 69, �30, 698 NW2d 512, 521.

[�55.] The attorney general need not include the term “accountability” in the ballot statement.

[�56.] The attorney general's statement contains four paragraphs. The first describes judicial immunity and who is protected by judicial immunity. The second paragraph describes what will happen to decision makers if judicial immunity is abolished. The third paragraph describes the retroactive effect of the proposed amendment. The fourth paragraph describes probable court challenges and potential costs to the state.

[�57.] The explanation says who has immunity, what happens if they lose it, that it is retroactive and may cost the state money. The explanation is clear and simple.

[�58.] The purpose is to eliminate judicial immunity and the effect is to expose decision makers to fines and jail, and strip them of public insurance coverage and up to one-half of their retirement benefits. In addition, the effect of the amendment may expose the state to lawsuits and expense.

[�59.] The attorney general has clearly and simply stated the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment.

[�60.] The attorney general explained that the proposed amendment may be challenged in court and may be unconstitutional. The state may be required to pay attorney fees and costs. The attorney general clearly and simply stated the legal consequences.

[�61.] Excepting use of the word “volunteers,” the attorney general's ballot statement is 1) objective and 2) clear and simple and it states 3) the purpose and effect and 4) the legal consequences of the proposed JAIL constitutional amendment. The word “volunteers” should be replaced by the words “special grand jurors” and then the ballot statement is good to go.

[1] A member of the special grand jury envisioned under the JAIL amendment could be subject to proceedings by the special grand jury since the amendment abolishes judicial immunity which protects grand jurors from lawsuits and harassment. No immunity is extended to special grand jurors under the proposed JAIL amendment.

[2] Stegmeier's mentor, Ron Branson from California, styles himself a five star general.

[3] In court, counsel wrinkled up her face and said “Oooohhh” when she described the impression that the word “strip” gave her.