Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of a jury, in the common law legal system, which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. Grand juries carry out this duty 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.
History
The first grand jury was held in England in 1166. The grand jury was recognized by King John in the Magna Carta in 1215 on demand of the people. Its roots stretch back as early as 997 C.E., when an Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelred the Unready, charged an investigative body of his reign that it should go about its duty by accusing no innocent person, and sheltering no guilty one. [1]
Legal aspects of the grand jury
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. The grand jury, 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 compel 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," (meaning that there is a case to answer), or "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 today unknown outside the United States. The United Kingdom abandoned grand juries in 1933 and instead uses a committal procedure, as do all Australian jurisdictions. New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. Canada abolished it 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.
Grand Juries in the United States
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.
Grand jury and society
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."[2] 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 amended procedures govern the formation of grand juries such that grand jurors are no longer required to have previous 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.[3]
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.
Civil grand juries
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.
See also
- Preliminary hearing
- Committal procedure
- CIA leak grand jury investigation
External links
- Grand Jury FAQ from the American Bar Association
- Grand Juries and Government Harassment of Activists
- 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
- [4] National Public Radio, "How Federal Grand Juries Work"
- Grand juror handbooks from the court system:
- Federal (in pdf format)
- Virginia
- Hennepin County (Minnesota)
- Illinois
- Gottlieb, Bruce, "Who Is a Grand Jury?", Slate (magazine), 5 August 1998.
- Who invented the grand jury? from the Straight Dope
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