Order impanels grand jury

SANDPOINT — Grand jury proceedings are slated to get underway later this month, according to a notice posted in 1st District Court.

Forty Bonner County residents are being issued summons to meet at the courthouse on June 26 as prospective members of a grand jury panel. The panel will be paired down to 16 jurors during the selection process.

Grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret and jurors are sworn to secrecy. Authorities are prevented from discussing the nature of the charges or who is being implicated until an indictment is returned.

The grand jury has broad investigative powers to gather documentary evidence and can compel witnesses to testify, according to Idaho Code. If the panel returns an indictment, an arrest warrant or summons is issued against the subject of the grand jury probe. The defendant proceeds directly to district court, where the person is arraigned and a trial date is scheduled.

The grand jury process bypasses the preliminary hearing stage of a typical criminal proceeding. Judges decide at preliminary hearings whether there is sufficient evidence to justify trying a defendant.

The most recent grand jury proceeding was in 2017, when a grand jury indicted a Priest River-area man on multiple counts of lewd and lascivious conduct, in addition to sexual and ritualized abuse. Dana Andrew Furtney was convicted by a Bonner County jury this year and subsequently sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Grand jury proceedings have also been used to prosecute other forms of crime in Bonner County, such as in crackdowns on illegal drug trade, motorcycle clubs and shady car dealerships.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.