Jury Duty (one angry man)

What should I yell at the Judge?
	�I�m a lawyer. What we think isn�t supposed to matter.�
	"Permission to approach."
	"You can't handle the truth"
	�In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.�
	"No further questions your honor"
	"May I beg the court�s indulgence for a moment?"
	"The evidence is overwhelming."
	"If the glove fits, you must acquit"
	" I'm holding you in contempt of court."
	"Goku"

Chef Boyardeez Nuts: Sep 9, 2011; The more you kick against the pricks, the more you suffer.

Anderson Koopa posted:

Interesting, I figured the burden of proof was probably lower. I suspect they do the whole Grand / Petit Juries for a couple of reasons.

1. Remember France during their Revolution? The steps back then were, arrest, charged, trial, and then probably death. Now it's arrest, indictment (Grand Jury step), charged, trial, and whatever the trial outcome is. The Grand Jury cuts down on the number of trials that are allowed by adding another step.

2. Economics. Everyone in the court room wants to avoid a trial if possible. Trials are expensive, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and all of the court personnel that run everything are all getting paid. I suspect Grand Juries are cheaper because all you need is 22 people with nothing better going on in their lives ($50 a head plus mileage), a prosecutor (who's going to get paid anyways), some room to stash all of the people, and pastries (maybe another $40 here?) The Grand Jury stops failed trials from happening.

A grand jury indictment lets you skip a step in the adversarial system because you're making a finding of probable cause. Absent an indictment, a defendant would have a timely opportunity to test the evidence against them at a preliminary hearing. By letting prosecutors skip this step they get to bring state power through pretrial confinement/release to bear to bully people into plea deals/catch them doing other poo poo.

They can be good: they let a victim avoid having to face their abuser at the prelim stage and they can shield the identity of undercovers or informants.

They can be bad: the prosecutor has sole control of evidence presented and doesn't have to tell you that the thing they're showing you is likely to be surpressed at trial. They also don't have to present evidence that is unfavorable to their case.

Basically if you're ever on a grand jury and you aren't dealing almost exclusively with weeping victims or undercover cops your prosecutor is using you to bootstrap weak sisters that wouldn't survive a prelim.

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