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NRS 172.135

Evidence receivable before grand jury

Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Commonwealth v. St. Pierre (1979)

Most recently applied in State of Alaska v. The Estate of Harry Powell (January 2025)

(Added to NRS by 1967, 1409; A 1975, 649; 1983, 1917; 1993, 86, 549; 1999, 164; 2015, 578)

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citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. In the investigation of a charge, for the purpose of either presentment or indictment, the grand jury can receive no other evidence than such as is given by witnesses produced and sworn before them or furnished by legal documentary evidence or by the deposition of witnesses taken as provided in this title, except that the grand jury may receive any of the following:

(a) An affidavit or declaration from an expert witness or other person described in NRS 50.315 in lieu of personal testimony or a deposition.

(b) An affidavit of an owner, possessor or occupant of real or personal property or other person described in NRS 172.137 in lieu of personal testimony or a deposition.

2. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the grand jury can receive none but legal evidence, and the best evidence in degree, to the exclusion of hearsay or secondary evidence. The grand jury can receive hearsay evidence consisting of a statement made by the alleged victim of an offense if the defendant is alleged to have committed one or more of the following offenses:

(a) A sexual offense committed against a child who is under the age of 16 years if the offense is punishable as a felony. As used in this paragraph, “sexual offense” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 179D.097.

(b) Abuse of a child pursuant to NRS 200.508 if the offense is committed against a child who is under the age of 16 years and the offense is punishable as a felony.

(c) An act which constitutes domestic violence pursuant to NRS 33.018, which is punishable as a felony and which resulted in substantial bodily harm to the alleged victim.

3. A statement made by a witness at any time that is inconsistent with the testimony of the witness before the grand jury may be presented to the grand jury as evidence.

Official source: Nevada Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Nevada statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.