We touched on grand juries in class, much more so than I normally do. That sometimes means that have to dust off cobwebs on the spot. Some questions I was not able to clearly answer. Some links could take you where I couldn't.
Here's the ubiquitous wikipedia site. Aside from interesting history, it points out that only half the states still use grand juries, opting instead for preliminary hearings or some other judge controlled process for determining who should go to trial. In the abanet page it links to the grand jury is shown to be controlled by the prosecutor, making it likely to indict the ham sandwich demanded of the DA.
It would be intersting to see if the states that still use grand juries are more likely to be tough "law and order" states that give short shrift to the rights of criminal defendants.
Here's a link to the Harris County District Courts' grand jury page. Note that on the bottom it has an application for anyone that would like to serve on a grand jury. Are certain communities opening themselves up to an increased likelyhood of indictments if they do not seek to be members of grand juries?
Good opportunity for community service.
A few other web tidbits:
- the criminal process.
- help with a grand jury.
- the grand jury in drug cases.
This is probably the most important thing you will learn in this class. Good luck out there.
