Q: If a grand jury indicts someone, what are the defendant rights ? Do they get to know what was said at the grand jury?
A:
Grand jury hearings are secret in NH and federally.
A Grand Jury considers evidence presented by the government and decides whether there is sufficient evidence to formally charge a person with committing a crime.
Secrecy prevents those under scrutiny from fleeing or importuning the grand jurors, encourages full disclosure by witnesses, and protects the innocent from unwarranted prosecution, among other things. The long-established rule of grand jury secrecy is enshrined in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), which provides that government attorneys and the jurors themselves, among others, “must not disclose a matter occurring before the grand jury.” Accordingly, as a general matter, persons and entities external to the grand jury process are precluded from obtaining transcripts of grand jury testimony or other documents or information that would reveal what took place in the proceedings, even if the grand jury has concluded its work and even if the information is sought pursuant to otherwise-valid legal
processes
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