What you may have read is the GJ’s report or “Presentment”, that much is sometimes public. The proceedings and the testimony are almost always secret.
http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/RHandbook01.nsf/1119bd38ae090a748525676f0053b606/badd5b4fce22d788852569cb004cc254!OpenDocument
“In practice, the prosecuting attorney selects those cases he believes warrant prosecution. The prosecutor then determines whether to proceed by indictment or information. If the prosecutor is required to or chooses to seek an indictment, he then presents his case to a grand jury by interrogating the witnesses he has subpoenaed and presenting other evidence relevant to the alleged offense. The grand jurors themselves also may question witnesses and request additional witnesses or evidence. After that evidence is presented to the grand jury, it decides whether there is probable cause to indict the accused. The accused is not given the opportunity to present evidence in his defense or cross-examine witnesses at the grand jury phase. If the accused is subpoenaed to testify before a state grand jury, that testimony cannot be used against him at trial. …. Whether or not an indictment is returned, the grand jury subsequently may issue a report or presentment. That report will contain the grand jury’s findings and may make recommendations. Florida Statutes Section 905.28(1) (2007) provides a mechanism for redacting or suppressing presentments which name unindicted individuals: …. II. Secrecy and Disclosure.
Historically, grand juries proceed in secret. The grand jury session, deliberations, and voting are closed.15 The courts so jealously guard that veil of secrecy they have closed proceedings merely ancillary to the grand jury session. In Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc. v. Doe, 460 So. 2d 406, 409 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), the court held that the grand jury statute required closure of ancillary hearings conducted out of the grand jury’s presence, but while the grand jury was in session. As discussed, the court in Afendoulis determined the grand jury statute mandated closure of motions to repress and hearings on the motions. In sum, although most of the interests in grand jury secrecy are protected if the grand jury session itself is closed, the courts have been receptive to arguments which urge that the cloak of secrecy be extended beyond the grand jury session itself. That cloak, however, does not exempt criminal investigative records compiled independent of, and prior to, a grand jury session, although presented to the grand jury, from disclosure under the Florida Public Records Act.16
The United States Supreme Court has enumerated the policies underlying grand jury secrecy:
- The fear that witnesses will not come forward voluntarily if their identity is not protected;
- The fear that witnesses will be less likely to give full and frank testimony if their identity is known so that they become subject to retribution or inducements;
- The risk that the indicted will flee if indictments are made public prior to arrest;
- The danger that a potential defendant might influence the votes of grand jurors; and
- The protection of the reputation of an individual who is accused but not indicted by the grand jury.17
Florida Statutes Section 905.24 (2007), codifies those policies and mandates: “Grand jury proceedings are secret, and a grand juror or an interpreter appointed pursuant to s. 90.6063(2) shall not disclose the nature or substance of the deliberations or vote of the grand jury.” Although there are no criminal sanctions which apply to a violation of that section, the courts routinely rely on that provision to deny access to grand jury-related matters.
In addition, Florida Statutes Section 905.27(2007) prohibits grand jurors, state attorneys and all other court personnel from disclosing to anyone, except under certain narrowly-specified circumstances, the testimony of a witness examined before the grand jury or other evidence received by it.”
