Secret grand jury proceedings in Utah will be a little less secret in the future because of recent legislative action and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

In a unanimous opinion released Wednesday, the high court declared unconstitutional a Florida law prohibiting grand jury witnesses from ever revealing their testimony. The ruling affects Utah and 15 other states with similarly severe restrictions.During the last grand jury investigation in Salt Lake County, attorneys were not sure they could even talk to their own clients because of the strict secrecy provisions in Utah's law.

"The matter of disclosure was discussed, and there was some concern about it," said attorney Rodney G. Snow, who served as the grand jury's special prosecutor in 1986. "Frankly, if you read the statute literally, witnesses couldn't discuss their testimony with their own attorneys."

When the Utah Legislature overhauled the state's grand jury statute, it revised the secrecy rules to permit lawyer client communication. However, the law didn't specifically address the question of when a witness may publicly disclose his or her own testimony.

That question was answered by Wednesday's court decision, which said a witness can reveal his or her testimony at the conclusion of the grand jury investigation.

The Florida law was challenged by a former reporter for the Charlotte Herald-News in Charlotte County, Fla. The reporter testified before a grand jury that was investigating allegations of local government corruption and later wanted to include his own testimony in a news story and possibly a book.

One federal judge upheld the Florida law prohibiting the disclosure, but a higher court ruled for the reporter, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.

"The interests advanced by the portion of the Florida statute struck down are not sufficient to overcome (the reporter's) First Amendment right to make a truthful statement of information he acquired on his own," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court.

He added: "The ban extends not merely to the life of the grand jury but into the indefinite future. The potential for abuse of the Florida prohibition, through its employment as a device to silence those who know of unlawful conduct or irregularities on the part of public officials, is apparent."

The court's ruling does not affect state laws barring grand jury witnesses from disclosing their testimony while the investigation is in progress.

Snow said the ruling isn't likely to open the floodgates to secret testimony in Utah. However, now as in the past, the state's law generally permits a carefully phrased disclosure of information.

For example, witnesses could not walk out of a grand jury room and tell a reporter, "I testified that Mr. X is a crook, and I provided this evidence," but they are free to tell the reporter, "Mr. X is a crook and here is the evidence." In other words, disclosures made independently of the grand jury were not governed by grand jury rules.

Snow called the Supreme Court's ruling "a good decision," adding, "Some latitude needs to be allowed under the First Amendment."

He also said the specific revisions approved by Utah lawmakers will improve grand jury proceedings without jeopardizing the necessary secrecy surrounding investigations.

The grand jury reform bill that was passed by the Legislature allows disclosure of information:

-To a state attorney or special prosecutor for use in the performance of that attorney's duty.

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-To government personnel who are needed to assist prosecutors or to enforce criminal laws.

-For judicial proceedings.

-To another grand jury.

-When there has been a showing of special need for the preparation of a defense.

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