Explain grand juries

[shockingelk]

Why do some alleged crimes require an indictment by a grand jury and in other cases, the Attorney General or prosecutor can just file a criminal charge?

TIA.

[merwin]

1. This explains it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Jury

[rug]

2. Depends on the state.

At common law the state could not try anyone for felonies or other serious charges until a grand jury of the accused's peers reviewed the evidence to determine if it was sufficient to allow the prosecution to go forward. BTW, a trial jury is technically a petit jury. Trial jury has 12; grand jury has 23. I don't know if Minnesota uses grand juries.

[shockingelk]

3. That means 23 randomly chosen Texans ...

Believe Delay conspired to commit a crime and another 23 believe he laundered money? Excellent! But Delay did not get a chance to defend himself ... the GJ was provided info and arguments by the prosecutor?

And giving that back to you, depending on the jurisdiction, more serious crimes may require indictment by a grand jury, but lesser crimes may not?

[Yupster]

5. No -- it means 23 random Texans

believe there's enough evidence to bring Delay up on trial.

The Grand Jury is not asked whether a guy is guilty or innocent. In fact the defense is not even allowed to put up a defense before the Grand Jury.

The Grand Jury is just asked if there's enough there to even justify having a trial.

[serryjw]

4. More info on serving on the Grand Jury

http://www.udayton.edu/~grandjur/faq/faq2.htm

[spindrifter]

6. There needs to be a finding

of probable cause. For example in Washington (state), for felony charges a the prosecutor submits a statement -- generally written by a cop-- setting forth what she believes constitutes probable cause that Mr. R*ve committed the crime of perjury. If the judge find probable cause, then the Information (charging document) is filed. The drawback is that there is only the bald assertion by the cop that Mr. R. lied in a sworn statement. The GJ is able to see actual witnesses and hear what they have to say about the incident. If the assertions are flimsy or unbelievable they do not approve an indictment. With the other system, the person gets hauled into court and may have to go all the way through trial before someone says--you know, I don't believe these witnesses.
Under the Plamegate circumstances, I want the GJ system.