Community outrage ensued as the members of a primarily African American community protested the shooting death of an African American teen at the hands of a while police officer.The case was quickly brought before the grand jury to determine whether Officer Wilson should be criminally charged with the shooting and death of the teen.
The Mechanics of the Grand Jury Process in Texas. The Assize Act proclaimed that no person could be tried for a crime unless a certain number of other individuals appeared personally at court to accuse that person of the specified crime.This body of important men, the “juré,” was sworn to duty in each shire, and given the authority to investigate accusations, identify suspects, and study and demand evidence and sworn testimony to determine whether the accused should stand trial. The grand jury is “a kind of buffer or referee between the Government and the people.” The accused has no right to present his case, and in many cases is not even made aware the hearing is taking place.
Since colonial times, America has embraced the custom of the grand jury in England’s King Henry II effected major changes in the justice system of the time when he enacted the Assize of Clarendon Act of 1166, which took back control over the courts from the Catholic Church and local nobility. Jurors are then called randomly from that list, through a grand jury summons, to grand jury service.
2. They have already given evidence before a grand jury in Washington. This literally means that there was “no bill of indictment” issued. Because of secrecy rules in grand jury proceedings, only a handful of these cases are laid out before the public by the media.On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an African American teenager, stole some cigarillos from a convenience store, and was seen by police officer Darren Wilson just a few minutes later.
This can range from as low as six to as high as 23, although a federal grand jury usually comprises 16 to 23 people. While voir dire is called a “selection process,” it is more accurately thought of as a rejection process, as the attorneys and judge in the case have the opportunity to reject potential jurors who may be biased against their viewpoint.
States are free to formulate their own pretrial requirements, and they vary greatly in the number of grand jurors they seat, the limits they place on the deliberations of those jurors, and whether a grand jury is used at all. In practice, the prosecutor responsible for presenting cases to the grand jury holds a great deal of sway. States have similar rules, though the number of jurists varies.In order to encourage witnesses to testify freely, without fear of retaliation, all grand jury proceedings are secret, taking place in a closed room, led by the prosecutor with no judge. Voir dire often includes considering a grand juror’s availability, as grand jury members are generally called to serve several months, though they are only required to be in court a few days each month.In theory, the grand jury process protects people from unjustifiable and unfair prosecution.
It is important to understand that the grand jury process is a secret proceeding. . He was summoned to testify before a grand jury. It is against the law for any juror or witness to disclose any portion of grand jury proceedings, including their own testimony.The Supreme Court has held that this secrecy in the grand jury process is necessary as, if the details of these proceedings were made public, many would-be witnesses might be hesitant to testify openly. The grand jury's role is to determine whether there is in fact probable cause (not guilt) for criminal charges, which generally carries much more weight than a simple criminal complaint. This frequently happens when the defendant does not want to wait in jail until the grand jury decides whether or not to indict. This is a more lengthy road to prosecution, however, as a defendant that has received a grand jury indictment usually gets to trial more quickly.Cases involving a wide variety of accusations of criminal misconduct are brought before both state and federal grand juries every year. In contrast, a grand jury indictment is the product of sworn witness testimony and/or physical evidence, analyzed by a grand jury made up of local citizens. The prosecutors attempt to establish probable cause to believe that a criminal offense has been committed.The grand jury may request that the court compel further evidence, including witness testimony and subpoenas of documents.