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From The Bench March 27, 2008 |
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Written by Judge William Steuk, Huron Municipal Court
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 |
This article focuses on the role of a Grand Jury. There are two types of criminal juries in Ohio. One is a "petit jury". A petit jury is one selected to hear and decide a particular case. This jury will decide whether a defendant is guilty of a crime. The second type of jury is the "grand jury". The role of the grand jury is quite different.
While petit jury is used at the trial of a criminal case, the grand jury is used much earlier in a criminal case. The grand jury's role is to listen to evidence presented by the prosecuting attorney and decide whether the accused should be tried for a serious crime. Grand juries help to protect persons so that they are not wrongfully accused of a crime. It is important to remember that a grand jury does not determine if one is guilty of a crime. That is the role again of the petit jury. If the grand jury decides that evidence is sufficient to justify a criminal charge, that determination is called an "Indictment" or "True Bill".
Grand juries are used for more serious crimes and are not used for misdemeanor cases. Most of the grand jury's work concerns hearing witnesses and evaluating the sufficiency of evidence. The prosecuting attorney states and explains the charge to the jury and announces the witnesses that will be presented. Witnesses appear voluntarily at the request of the prosecuting attorney or the grand jury or upon a subpoena from the grand jury or from the court. Once the evidence is presented to the grand jury, the grand jury will discuss the case and vote to determine whether the defendant should be indicted.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of the role of the grand jury system in our criminal judicial process.
Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.
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