Grand jury
A
grand jury is a type of
jury, in the
common law legal system, which determines if there is enough
evidence for a
trial. Grand juries carry out this role by examining evidence presented to them by a
prosecutor and issuing
indictments, or by investigating alleged
crimes and issuing
presentments. A grand jury is traditionally larger and distinguishable from a
petit jury, which is used during a trial. The first grand jury was held in
England in
1166.
A grand jury is part of the system of
checks and balances, preventing a case from going to trial on a prosecutor's bare word. It, as an impartial panel of ordinary citizens, must first decide whether there exists
reasonable cause or
probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. The grand jury can compell
witnesses to testify before them. Unlike the trial itself, the grand jury's proceedings are secret; the
defendant and his or her
counsel are generally not present for other witnesses' testimony. The grand jury's decision is either a "true bill," there is a case to answer, or a "no true bill." Jurors typically are drawn from the same pool of citizens as a petit jury, and participate for a specific time period.
Grand juries are unknown outside the United States and are not universal within the United States. The
United Kingdom abandoned grand juries in the
1930s and instead uses a
committal procedure, as do all
Australian
jurisdictions.
New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. Canada abolished in the 1970s. Today fewer than half of the states in the
U.S. employ them. Most jurisdictions have abolished grand juries, replacing them with the
preliminary hearing at which a
Judge hears evidence concerning the alleged offenses and makes a decision on whether the prosecution can proceed.
Federal grand juries
Charges involving "capital or infamous crimes" under
federal jurisdiction must be presented to a grand jury, under the
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This has been interpreted to permit bypass of the grand jury for
misdemeanor offenses, which can be charged by prosecutor's information.
State grand juries
Unlike many other provisions of the
Bill of Rights, the
Supreme Court has ruled that this requirement does not pertain to the
state courts via the
Fourteenth Amendment, and states therefore may elect to not use grand juries.
Some argue that the grand jury is
unjust as the defendant is not represented by
counsel and/or does not have the right to call witnesses. Intended to serve as a check on prosecutors, the opportunity it presents them to compel testimony can in fact prove useful in building up the case they will present at the final trial.
In practice, a grand jury rarely acts in a manner contrary to the wishes of the prosecutor. Judge
Sol Wachtler, the disbarred former Chief Judge of
New York State, was quoted as saying, "A grand jury would indict a ham sandwich." As such, many jurisdictions in the United States have replaced the formality of a grand jury with a procedure in which the prosecutor can issue charges by filing an
information (also known as an
accusation) which is followed by a preliminary hearing before a
Judge at which both the
defendant and his or her counsel are present. New York State itself has changed procedures that define how grand juries are formed to no longer require jurors to have former jury experience.
In some rare instances, the grand jury does break with the prosecutor. It can even exclude the prosecutor from its meetings and subpoena witnesses and issue indictments on its own. This is called a "runaway grand jury." Runaway grand juries sometimes happen in government corruption or organized crime cases, if the grand jury comes to believe that the prosecutor himself has been improperly influenced. They were common in the 19th century but have become rare since the 1930s.[
1]
In all U.S. jurisdictions retaining the grand jury, the defendant has the right under the
Fifth Amendment not to give self-incriminating testimony. However, the prosecutor can call the defendant to testify and require the defendant to assert the right on a question-by-question basis, which is prohibited in jury trials unless the defendant has voluntarily testified on his own behalf. Other evidentiary rules applicable to trials (such as the
hearsay rule) are generally not applicable to grand jury proceedings.
California and Nevada have what are known as civil grand juries. In California, each county is required by the state constitution to have at least one grand jury empaneled at all times. Most grand juries are seated on a fiscal cycle, i.e. July-June. Most counties have panels consisting of 19 jurors, some have as few as 11 jurors. All actions by a grand jury require a two-thirds vote. Jurors are usually selected on a volunteer basis.
These county level grand juries primarily focus on oversight of government institutions at the county level and lower. Almost any entity which receives public money can be examined by the grand jury, including county government, cities, and special districts. Each panel selects the topics which it wishes to examine each year. A jury is not allowed to
continue an oversight from a previous panel. If a jury wishes to look at a subject which a prior jury was examining, it must start its own investigation and independently verify all information. It may use information obtained from the prior jury but this information must be verified before it can be used by the current jury. Upon completing its investigation, the jury may, but is not required to, issue a report detailing its findings and recommendations. This report is the only public record of the grand jury's work; there is no minority report. Each published report includes a list of those public entities which are required or requested to respond. The format of these responses is dictated by law, as is the time span in which they must respond.
Civil grand juries develop areas to examine by two avenues, juror interests and public complaints. Complaints filed by the public are kept confidential. The protection of whistleblowers is one of the primary reasons for the confidential nature of the grand jury's work.
The law governing grand juries may differ in Nevada.
*
Preliminary hearing*
Committal procedure*
CIA leak grand jury investigation - Current news event
*
Grand Jury FAQ from the
American Bar Association*
The California Grand Jurors' Association*
"Federal Grand Jury", a website from a professor at the
University of Dayton*
An organization devoted to Grand Jury reform*
More on Grand Jury reform, from the
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers* [
2]
National Public Radio, "How Federal Grand Juries Work"
* Grand juror
handbooks from the court system:
**
Federal (in
pdf format)
**
Virginia**
Hennepin County (Minnesota)**
Illinois*
Who invented the grand jury? from the
Straight Dope
