How a grand jury works in St. Louis County
By Kim Bell kbell@post-dispatch.com
What goes on inside a grand jury room is secret.
The prosecutor presents the evidence. No judge is in the room. No defense lawyer. The accused is invited to testify, but his lawyer can't be in the room.
Grand juries are known for doing what a prosecutor wants. As the old saying goes, a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if that's what the prosecutor asked.
Prosecutors feeling the heat in a controversial case, some say, can avoid making a decision and give it to a grand jury.
The standing grand jury in St. Louis County meets every Wednesday during a four-month term. The panel that is hearing evidence in the Michael Brown case was convened in May.
The job of the grand jury is to decide whether or not there is probable cause that a crime has been committed and that the person accused committed it.
There are 12 members of the grand jury in Missouri. It takes nine to indict. If at least nine agree that there is probable cause, the grand jury finds what's called a "true bill" and an indictment is filed.
If the grand jury doesn't find probable cause, then a "no true bill" is found and the prosecution is over.
The grand jury is made up of private citizens. They are selected in a way similar to how trial juries are selected. They are at least 21 years old and summoned at random based on voters and drivers license records.
A judge interviews the members of the jury panel and lets them know the commitment that's involved. The judge is looking for diversity, too, and considers just about every demographic category from race, gender and area of the county.
Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch of St. Louis County said he thinks the standing grand jury that will be hearing evidence in the Brown case is diverse and has three African-Americans on it. His office is asking a judge if it's okay to release to the Post-Dispatch the racial, gender and geographic makeup of the jurors.
The members of the grand jury are paid the same as trial jurors, about $18 a day and given mileage too. There are alternates in case someone on the jury panel gets sick. By meeting weekly during the four months, the grand juror can expect to show up in Clayton 16 to 20 days.
Once the grand jury begins its work, the prosecutor presents evidence behind closed doors.
The accused doesn't attend. However, the accused is invited to give a statement to the grand jury. His attorney cannot be in the room while that's happening. If the accused wants to step into the hallway and talk with his attorney, that's allowed.
When it comes time for the grand jury to begin discussing the evidence, no one else can be in the room, not even the prosecutors. The grand jury picks one of its members to act as foreperson.
All felony charges in Missouri must be presented for consideration either by the grand jury or by an associate circuit judge at a preliminary hearing. According to the prosecutor's office, a little less than half of the cases prosecuted in St. Louis County are presented to the grand jury.
Defense lawyers often view the grand jury as a rubber stamp of the prosecutor. The old saying about a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich if a prosecutor wants is actually believed to have originated with a former New York court of appeals judge, Solomon Wachtler. He was telling a reporter about the influence prosecutors had over grand juries.
"It's no joke," said James Cohen, an associate professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York. "That (quote) vividly places the power of the prosecutor in context."
Cohen explains: "The prosecutor is responsible for presenting the evidence, calling the witnesses and instructors the jurors on the applicable law. The prosecutor can decide who to call based on what he expects the witnesses to say."
The prosecutor can decide not to instruct the grand jury on a charge of murder, for instance, and instead only instruct the jury on criminal negligence. Or the prosecutor could instruct the grand jury on several charges, including manslaughter.
McCulloch, for his part, has told reporters he plans to have his staff present every scrap of evidence, every interview, to the grand jury considering the Brown case.
Cohen said the grand jury process gives prosecutors a lot of power. Prosecutors also can file charges apart from the grand jury. "In high profile cases, the prosecutors use the grand jury to seek some cover for their failure to act on their own," Cohen said.
Cohen said grand juries originated in medieval England. They were used as a way to protect citizens from the king, Cohen said. "The grand jury acted independently of the crown," he said. "And it was thought to be a buffer, if you will, against the power of the crown.
"It was created historically to be a safeguard. It's obviously evolved since then," Cohen added.
Cohen said he heard that McCulloch has promised to seek a court order to have all of the evidence released to the public if the grand jury doesn't indict the officer. Cohen called that "a foolish statement" on McCulloch's part.
Saying the materials might be released in the future can have a chilling effect on potential witnesses, Cohen said.
"Either side might be less likely to get witnesses to testify in secret" if they think the information will ultimately go public, Cohen said.
In addition, material is rarely released, Cohen said. Scholars have tried to get the secret grand jury proceedings released in historical cases but the government fought hard and rebuffed those efforts, he said.
Frank O. Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri, said grand juries were being used in America because colonists thought of them as a way to act as a kind of shield or filter against the power of the state. Before a defendant is subjected to the rigors of a trial, the case goes before a group of citizens to review.
Supreme Court opinions have talked of grand juries as something outside the judicial or executive branches and see them more as part of the citizens' voice.
Grand juries are often used for their subpoena power to gather evidence during an investigation. "That's what is going on here," Bowman said of the Brown case.
Cohen, the Fordham law professor, said that whatever happens with the grand jury in the Brown case is bound to upset one side or the other.
"If he (the officer) is charged with murder, a lot of white people and police officers will be upset," Cohen said. "If he's not charged, a lot of people of color will be upset."
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_f0c885c8-0e6b-532f-a6b6-0dc663b85d96.html#.U_TpW0sKzdk.twitter
By Kim Bell kbell@post-dispatch.com
What goes on inside a grand jury room is secret.
The prosecutor presents the evidence. No judge is in the room. No defense lawyer. The accused is invited to testify, but his lawyer can't be in the room.
Grand juries are known for doing what a prosecutor wants. As the old saying goes, a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if that's what the prosecutor asked.
Prosecutors feeling the heat in a controversial case, some say, can avoid making a decision and give it to a grand jury.
The standing grand jury in St. Louis County meets every Wednesday during a four-month term. The panel that is hearing evidence in the Michael Brown case was convened in May.
The job of the grand jury is to decide whether or not there is probable cause that a crime has been committed and that the person accused committed it.
There are 12 members of the grand jury in Missouri. It takes nine to indict. If at least nine agree that there is probable cause, the grand jury finds what's called a "true bill" and an indictment is filed.
If the grand jury doesn't find probable cause, then a "no true bill" is found and the prosecution is over.
The grand jury is made up of private citizens. They are selected in a way similar to how trial juries are selected. They are at least 21 years old and summoned at random based on voters and drivers license records.
A judge interviews the members of the jury panel and lets them know the commitment that's involved. The judge is looking for diversity, too, and considers just about every demographic category from race, gender and area of the county.
Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch of St. Louis County said he thinks the standing grand jury that will be hearing evidence in the Brown case is diverse and has three African-Americans on it. His office is asking a judge if it's okay to release to the Post-Dispatch the racial, gender and geographic makeup of the jurors.
The members of the grand jury are paid the same as trial jurors, about $18 a day and given mileage too. There are alternates in case someone on the jury panel gets sick. By meeting weekly during the four months, the grand juror can expect to show up in Clayton 16 to 20 days.
Once the grand jury begins its work, the prosecutor presents evidence behind closed doors.
The accused doesn't attend. However, the accused is invited to give a statement to the grand jury. His attorney cannot be in the room while that's happening. If the accused wants to step into the hallway and talk with his attorney, that's allowed.
When it comes time for the grand jury to begin discussing the evidence, no one else can be in the room, not even the prosecutors. The grand jury picks one of its members to act as foreperson.
All felony charges in Missouri must be presented for consideration either by the grand jury or by an associate circuit judge at a preliminary hearing. According to the prosecutor's office, a little less than half of the cases prosecuted in St. Louis County are presented to the grand jury.
Defense lawyers often view the grand jury as a rubber stamp of the prosecutor. The old saying about a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich if a prosecutor wants is actually believed to have originated with a former New York court of appeals judge, Solomon Wachtler. He was telling a reporter about the influence prosecutors had over grand juries.
"It's no joke," said James Cohen, an associate professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York. "That (quote) vividly places the power of the prosecutor in context."
Cohen explains: "The prosecutor is responsible for presenting the evidence, calling the witnesses and instructors the jurors on the applicable law. The prosecutor can decide who to call based on what he expects the witnesses to say."
The prosecutor can decide not to instruct the grand jury on a charge of murder, for instance, and instead only instruct the jury on criminal negligence. Or the prosecutor could instruct the grand jury on several charges, including manslaughter.
McCulloch, for his part, has told reporters he plans to have his staff present every scrap of evidence, every interview, to the grand jury considering the Brown case.
Cohen said the grand jury process gives prosecutors a lot of power. Prosecutors also can file charges apart from the grand jury. "In high profile cases, the prosecutors use the grand jury to seek some cover for their failure to act on their own," Cohen said.
Cohen said grand juries originated in medieval England. They were used as a way to protect citizens from the king, Cohen said. "The grand jury acted independently of the crown," he said. "And it was thought to be a buffer, if you will, against the power of the crown.
"It was created historically to be a safeguard. It's obviously evolved since then," Cohen added.
Cohen said he heard that McCulloch has promised to seek a court order to have all of the evidence released to the public if the grand jury doesn't indict the officer. Cohen called that "a foolish statement" on McCulloch's part.
Saying the materials might be released in the future can have a chilling effect on potential witnesses, Cohen said.
"Either side might be less likely to get witnesses to testify in secret" if they think the information will ultimately go public, Cohen said.
In addition, material is rarely released, Cohen said. Scholars have tried to get the secret grand jury proceedings released in historical cases but the government fought hard and rebuffed those efforts, he said.
Frank O. Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri, said grand juries were being used in America because colonists thought of them as a way to act as a kind of shield or filter against the power of the state. Before a defendant is subjected to the rigors of a trial, the case goes before a group of citizens to review.
Supreme Court opinions have talked of grand juries as something outside the judicial or executive branches and see them more as part of the citizens' voice.
Grand juries are often used for their subpoena power to gather evidence during an investigation. "That's what is going on here," Bowman said of the Brown case.
Cohen, the Fordham law professor, said that whatever happens with the grand jury in the Brown case is bound to upset one side or the other.
"If he (the officer) is charged with murder, a lot of white people and police officers will be upset," Cohen said. "If he's not charged, a lot of people of color will be upset."
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_f0c885c8-0e6b-532f-a6b6-0dc663b85d96.html#.U_TpW0sKzdk.twitter
