 |
| Criminal procedure |
|---|
| Investigating and charging crimes |
| Criminal investigation |
|
Arrest warrant · Search warrant |
| Criminal prosecution |
|
Statute of limitations · Nolle prosequi |
| Charges and pleas |
|
Arraignment · Information · Indictment |
| Related areas of law |
|
Criminal defenses |
| Portals |
|
Law · Criminal justice |
In the common law, a grand jury is a type of jury which determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial. A plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal or copping a plea) is an agreement in a Criminal case whereby the Prosecutor offers A presentence investigation report ( PSI) is a Legal term referring to the investigation into the history of person convicted of a crime before sentencing to determine The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the process that Courts will follow when hearing cases of a civil nature (a " Civil action " as opposed to Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated Criminal law. 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. The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the Common law Adversarial system, or the civil law In the Common law legal system an indictment (ɪnˈdaɪtmənt (in-DITE-mint is a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment A grand jury is traditionally larger than and distinguishable from a petit jury, which is used during a trial. A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them
Contents |
History
The first grand jury was held in England in 1166. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Assize of Clarendon was an 1166 act of Henry II of England that began the transformation of English law from such systems for deciding the prevailing The grand jury was recognized by King John in the Magna Carta in 1215 on demand of the nobility. John (24 December 1167 &ndash 19 October 1216 reigned as a King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death Magna Carta ( Latin for Great Charter, literally " Great Paper " also called Magna Carta Libertatum ( Great Charter of Freedoms Its roots stretch back as early as 997 A. D. , 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. Ethelred II ( c. 968 – 23 April 1016 also known as Æthelred II, Aethelred II, Ethelred the Unready, Æthelred the Unready
In the early decades of the United States grand juries played a major role in public matters. During that period counties followed the traditional practice of requiring all decisions be made by at least 12 of the grand jurors, so that for a size of 23 a bare majority would be 12. Any citizen could bring a matter before it directly, from a public work that needed repair, to a delinquent official, to a complaint of a crime, and they could conduct their own investigations. In that era most criminal prosecutions were conducted by private parties, either a law enforcement officer, a lawyer hired by a crime victim or his family, or even by laymen, who could bring a bill of indictment to the grand jury, and if the grand jury found there was sufficient evidence for a trial, that the act was a crime under law, and that the court had jurisdiction, then by returning the indictment to the complainant, it appointed him to exercise the authority of an attorney general, that is, one having a general power of attorney to represent the state in the case. The grand jury served to screen out incompetent or malicious prosecutions. [1] The advent of official public prosecutors in the later decades of the 19th century largely displaced private prosecutions, but also led to them capturing grand juries and using them in ways for which they were not originally intended. [2]
Today
Grand juries are today virtually unknown outside the United States. England abandoned grand juries in 1933 and instead uses a committal procedure, as do all Australian jurisdictions. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In Law, a committal procedure is the process by which a defendant is charged with a serious offence under the Criminal justice systems of all Common law For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. In Law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak" is the practical Authority In Australia, although the State of Victoria maintains provisions for a grand jury in the Crimes Act 1958 under section 354 Indictments, it has been used on rare occasions by individuals to bring other persons to court seeking them to be committed for trial on indictable offenses. New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Canada abolished it in the 1970s. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Today approximately half of the states in the U.S. employ them,[3] and only twenty-two require their use, to varying extents. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [4] 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. Within some criminal justice systems a preliminary hearing ( evidentiary hearing) often abbreviated verbally as a "prelim" is a proceeding after a A judge, or justice, is an Official who presides over a Court of law
A grand jury is meant to be part of the system of checks and balances, preventing a case from going to trial on a prosecutor's bare word. Separation of powers, a term ascribed to French Enlightenment Political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the Governance A prosecutor must convince the grand jury, as an impartial panel of ordinary citizens that there exists reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or a prima facie case that a crime has been committed. Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard in United States law that a person has been is or is about to be engaged in criminal activity based on specific and articulable facts In United States Criminal law, probable cause refers to the standard by which a Police officer has the right to make an Arrest, conduct Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning "on its first appearance" or "by first instance" The grand jury can compel witnesses to testify before them. A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about a Crime or dramatic event through their Senses (e 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. A defendant or defender ( Δ in Legal shorthand) is any party who is required to answer the Complaint of a Plaintiff A counsel or a counsellor gives advice more particularly in legal matters 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. A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them
The composition of the grand jury was taken from that of a minor sanhedrin, which under Jewish law, empaneled 23 judges with a quorum requirement of 13. The Sanhedrin (סנהדרין συνέδριον ''synedrion'', "sitting together" hence " assembly " or "council" was an assembly [5]
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. The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The Fifth Amendment ( Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure This has been interpreted to permit bypass of the grand jury for misdemeanor offenses, which can be charged by prosecutor's information. A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems is a "lesser" criminal act
State grand juries
Unlike many other provisions of the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court has ruled[6] that this requirement was not incorporated to apply to state courts via the Fourteenth Amendment, and states therefore may elect not to use grand juries. In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Incorporation (of the Bill of Rights is the American legal doctrine by which portions of the Bill of Rights are applied to the states through the A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first
Criticism
Jon Roland argued that most grand juries as they are set up and used today are unconstitutional, and that there should be a return to grand jury practices closer to those that prevailed during the founding era. This would mean grand juries of 23 unpaid citizens each serving no more than 3,000 people, open to having anyone bring any matter before them, with no preferential treatment of public prosecutors, and deciding every question by a vote of at least 12. [7]
Cato Institute writers argued that grand juries as conducted today are unjust as the defendant is not represented by counsel and/or does not have the right to call witnesses. The Cato Institute is a Libertarian Think tank headquartered in Washington D JUSTICE is a Human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person 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. [8]
In practice, a grand jury rarely acts in a manner contrary to the wishes of the prosecutor. Judge Sol Wachtler, the former Chief Judge of New York State, was quoted as saying that a prosecutor could persuade a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich. Solomon Wachtler (born April 29, 1930) is a New York State Lawyer and former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, which is New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous "[9] On the other side, many prosecutors argue that the screening function of the grand jury operates with greater effect on a prosecutor's decision to bring a case in the first place; though records are understandably difficult to come by, many prosecutors say they simply do not bring cases to the grand jury that they believe the grand jury will not indict. In this way, grand juries may exert more of a check on prosecutors than the "ham sandwich" theory suggests.
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. A judge, or justice, is an Official who presides over a Court of law A defendant or defender ( Δ in Legal shorthand) is any party who is required to answer the Complaint of a Plaintiff New York has amended procedures governing the formation of grand juries so that grand jurors are no longer required to have previous jury experience.
Contrary to what some might expect, in some jurisdictions grand jurors are selected to serve by the local prosecutor, rather than by random selection from the community. Many who serve have done so many times and have a proven "record" to indict. No state has a provision to limit the number of grand juries a prosecutor can form to finally get the indictment he wants. If the first one doesn't indict he can form another. This issue was identified nationally when Texas prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, organized three grand juries before he could get an indictment on Congressman, Tom Delay. Ronald Dale "Ronnie" Earle (born February 23, 1942) is the District Attorney for Travis County Texas Thomas Dale DeLay (born April 8 1947 is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Sugar Land, Texas. The issue is mitigated by the fact that each subsequent grand jury may be called to view additional evidence, and not to merely revisit evidence that was already presented (tellingly Earle was eventually vindicated by uncovering the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal). The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal is a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff,
The Constitutionality of contemporary grand jury practices has been brought before the Supreme Court six times in history; however, the court has yet to allow a case to be heard. According to Mike Martin, former Texas State Representative in an interview with the Austin American Statesman in 1982, "A grand jury is nothing more than a perjury trap. Mike Martin is the name of Mike Martin (baseball, baseball player and current head coach for the Florida State University Mike Martin (baseball They drag you in by court order, won't let you have an attorney present, tell you the Fifth [Amendment] doesn't apply because you are not accused of anything, then slap a felony charge on you at the end because you deny an accusation. It goes against everything our forefathers intended when they set up America's judicial system". [[1]]
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. Such cases were common in the 19th century, but have become infrequent since the 1930s. [10]
In all U. S. jurisdictions retaining the grand jury, a potential defendant has the right under the Fifth Amendment not to give self-incriminating testimony. The Fifth Amendment ( Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure However, the prosecutor can call a potential defendant to testify and which may require that person to then assert their Fifth Amendment right.
County grand juries in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nevada
In the U. S. , the states of California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nevada have grand juries at the county level. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Minnesota ( Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers Nevada ( is a state located in the western region of the United States of America.
In California, each county is required by the state constitution to have at least one grand jury empaneled at all times. Grand Juries are governed by Title 4 of the California Penal Code, as well as other more general provisions. Grand juries are not subject to the Brown Act. The Brown Act, officially known as the Ralph M Brown Act (California Government Code sections 54950-54963 authored by Ralph M
Most grand juries are seated on a fiscal cycle, i. e. July through June. Most counties have panels consisting of 19 jurors, some have as few as 11 jurors, others have as many as 23 (see California Penal Code Section 888.2). All actions by a grand jury require a two-thirds vote. A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple Majority in order to have 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. There are two types of special-purpose districts in the United States school districts 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.
The grand jury is required to publish a minimum of one report containing a minimum of one finding and one recommendation. The published reports are 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 California Penal Code Section 933.05, as is the time span in which they must respond.
County 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. This is an article about a term For the 2008 RTÉ drama see Whistleblower (TV series.
Most county grand juries in California do not consider criminal matters, though by law they are able to. The decision of whether or not to present criminal cases to the grand jury is made by the county District Attorney.
The law governing county grand juries may differ in Nevada.
Hennepin County, Minnesota (which contains Minneapolis) keeps a Grand Jury empaneled at all times. Hennepin County is the most populous County in the US state of Minnesota. Each Grand Jury serves a term of four months. The Grand Jury typically meets one day each week. It focuses almost exclusively on homicide cases.
Circuit Grand Juries in Kentucky
In Kentucky, grand jurors are empaneled in each county, at the Circuit level (felonies only) for a four-month term (3 panels per year). During the trial jury orientation for the given four-month term, the grand jurors are selected from the trial jury pool, although the method of selection is not necessarily random. The meetings are twice a month (however, grand juries in more populous counties generally meet more often), with each meeting usually going through 20-30 cases in a 4-5 hour period. The indictment rate is about 98-99%; the grand jury can broaden (about 1% of the time) or narrow (about 3% of the time) the counts in the indictment as well. Usually, 15 or so grand jurors are required to report to meetings; the hope is that 12 will show to each meeting, which is the number of jurors required to hear cases (extra jurors can leave). It takes 9 yes votes to the question of probable cause to sign a true bill of indictment. Less than 9 yes votes either causes a no true bill or a narrowing of the indictment (depending on the votes per count).
The rules are very similar to the federal process; the grand jury only hears from law enforcement personnel, with the exception of property crimes, where store detectives or actual victims of theft or vandalism are called to testify. The only cases brought to the grand jury are those initiated from the Commonwealth's Attorney's office (the prosecutor for felonies). Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected Prosecutor of Felony crimes in Kentucky and Virginia. For the vast majority of cases, the grand jurors generally only hear a recitation of facts from the police report, crime laboratory reports, and other documentation generated during the evidence gathering process. Grand jurors can ask factual questions of the witnesses and legal questions of the prosecutors. The ability to broaden or narrow indictments does technically allow for grand juries to open new avenues of investigation, although since it is dependent on prosecutors for facts, this seems very rarely done, if ever. Rules of confidentiality apply to grand jurors, which are similar to the federal rules.
See also
References
- ^ The Grand Jury, George J. Within some criminal justice systems a preliminary hearing ( evidentiary hearing) often abbreviated verbally as a "prelim" is a proceeding after a In Law, a committal procedure is the process by which a defendant is charged with a serious offence under the Criminal justice systems of all Common law Edwards (1906)
- ^ If It's Not a Runaway, It's Not a Real Grand Jury, Roger Roots, Creighton L. R. , Vol. 33, No. 4, 1999-2000, 821
- ^ Frequently Asked Questions About the Grand Jury System. American Bar Association. The American Bar Association ( ABA) founded August 21 1878 is a voluntary Bar association of Lawyers and law students which is not specific Retrieved on 2007-03-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King
- ^ Brenner, Susan; Lori Shaw (2003). Power to abolish Grand Jury. University of Dayton School of Law. The University of Dayton (abbreviated UD) is a private Catholic University operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton Ohio Retrieved on 2007-03-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King
- ^ Mishnah Sanhedrin 1:1
- ^ Hurtado v. California, 110 U. S. 516 (1884) and Hurtado v. California
- ^ Opening the Grand Jury, Jon Roland
- ^ http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa476.pdf, A Grand Façade: How the Grand Jury Was Captured by Government, by W. Hurtado v California, 110 US 516 ( 1884) was a case decided on by the United States Supreme Court. Thomas Dillard, Stephen R. Johnson, and Timothy Lynch
- ^ Berliner, Uri (July 20, 2006). Would That Make Him a Genetically Modified Ham Sandwich?. Mixed Signals. NPR. Retrieved on 2007-03-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King
- ^ Brenner, Susan; Lori Shaw (2003). What is a "runaway" grand jury?. University of Dayton School of Law. The University of Dayton (abbreviated UD) is a private Catholic University operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton Ohio Retrieved on 2007-03-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King
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
- 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
- Gottlieb, Bruce. The American Bar Association ( ABA) founded August 21 1878 is a voluntary Bar association of Lawyers and law students which is not specific The University of Dayton (abbreviated UD) is a private Catholic University operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton Ohio The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL is an American legal defense organization "Who Is a Grand Jury?", Slate (magazine), 5 August 1998.
- Who invented the grand jury? from the Straight Dope
- Questioning Double Jeopardy
- Grand Juries
- Perjury story of State Rep, Mike Martin
Dictionary
grand jury
-noun
- (law) A group of citizens assembled by the government to hear evidence against an accused, and determine whether an indictment for a crime should be brought.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic