190.20 - Grand jury; formation, organization and other matters preliminary to assumption of duties.

§   190.20   Grand  jury;  formation,  organization  and  other  matters              preliminary to assumption of duties.    1. The mode of selecting grand jurors and of  drawing  and  impaneling  grand juries is governed by the judiciary law.    2.  Neither the grand jury panel nor any individual grand juror may be  challenged, but the court may:    (a) At any time before a grand jury is sworn, discharge the panel  and  summon  another  panel  if  it  finds  that  the original panel does not  substantially conform to the requirements of the judiciary law; or    (b) At any time after a grand juror is drawn, refuse to swear him,  or  discharge  him  after  he  has  been  sworn,  upon  a finding that he is  disqualified from service pursuant to the judiciary law, or incapable of  performing his duties  because  of  bias  or  prejudice,  or  guilty  of  misconduct in the performance of his duties such as to impair the proper  functioning of the grand jury.    3.  After  a grand jury has been impaneled, the court must appoint one  of the grand jurors as foreman and another to act as foreman during  any  absence  or  disability of the foreman. At some time before commencement  of their duties, the grand jurors must appoint one of  their  number  as  secretary  to  keep  records material to the conduct of the grand jury's  business.    4. The grand jurors must be sworn by the court. The oath may be in any  form or language which requires the grand jurors to perform their duties  faithfully.    5. After a grand jury has been sworn, the court must deliver or  cause  to be delivered to each grand juror a printed copy of all the provisions  of  this  article, and the court may, in addition, give the grand jurors  any oral and written instructions relating to the proper performance  of  their duties as it deems necessary or appropriate.    6.  If  two or more grand juries are impaneled at the same court term,  the court may thereafter, for good cause, transfer grand jurors from one  panel to another, and any grand juror so transferred is deemed  to  have  been sworn as a member of the panel to which he has been transferred.