Parties and Pretrial Procedures



Parties and Pretrial Procedures

Introduction

The grand jury is an independent body, and the instructions given to the grand jury members inform them to think independently, the practical realities of the situation mitigated against that paradigm. The grand jury hears only cases brought by the prosecutor usually because the prosecutor decides if he or she has enough evidence to find an accusation. Next, the prosecutor decides which witnesses will testify. The prosecutor decides witnesses who receive immunity. It creates a theory of the case by the prosecutor. The federal prosecutor i.e. the U.S. Attorney is the responsible government official relate to the role of the federal grand jury. Grand jury, transcriptionists and prosecutors works with federal grand jury under a duty to keep secret all things and those that have occurred before the grand jury (Offit, 2011).

A grand jury is a panel of citizens gathered to investigate crimes and issue indictments. Today, a prosecutor presents all cases to a grand jury. Attorney chooses jurors and asking the questions. No witnesses are permitted to have an attorney. Attorney writes and reads the charges to the grand jury. There is no requirement to instruct the members of the grand jury about the law in question. Moreover, unlike other jurors, Grand Jury members are selected taking into account their damage.

Discussion and Analysis

The grand jury is an integral part of the system of weights and balances, it determines whether there is sufficient evidence to begin a trial, after an examination of the evidence presented to them by a prosecutor through weighing the sufficiency of it. The federal grand jury is very powerful and can compel witnesses to testify before them. Its deliberations are secret, even to the accused himself. Since its role is only to determine if probable cause exists, so ...