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Secret Indictments: How To Discourage Them, How To Make Them Fair, John T. Stinson

John T Stinson Jr.

This article reveals an overlooked problem in federal criminal procedure that permits the government to indict individuals in secret and stall prosecutions to the detriment of fundamental rights. Constitutional and statutory protections ensure that criminal prosecutions in America are swift, open, and subject to thorough confrontational testing. Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, however, permits the open-ended cloaking of criminal indictments following an ex parte government request for a seal. Court interpretations of Rule 6 sealing have further eroded fundamental protections by declaring that a showing of substantial prejudice by a criminal defendant will be the only …