Many states use preliminary hearings instead of grand jury. Each of these legal institutions serves to avoid misjudged criminal prosecutions. Without this protection it could be that more accused had to wait in jail for a trial without an initial evaluation of the evidence against them. Preliminary hearings and grand juries protect people from unfounded accusations by the government.
People in Detroit celebrate a vigil after a grand jury decides to indict a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. (AP Images)
The grand jury's decision not to prosecute syndicated police officers in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases has placed the process under intense public scrutiny. However, according to the United States system, both grand juries had
By explaining where the idea of having a grand jury comes from and its role in criminal law today, Offit hopes to help those for the abolition of a jury get a better understanding on the procedures surrounding a grand jury. She explains that only with more knowledge of how this law system works is there a way to improve this system. Unlike the article by Robert Johnston, this article talks about the more recent developments
Four years ago Danroy “DJ” henry Jr. from Easton, Ma, was killed by a New york police officer. Since then the nation seen the death of trayvon Martin who was kiilled by a neighborhood watch volunteer and Michael brown who recently just got killed by a policeman in Ferguson, Missoury. However, the story of Eric Garner is shown to be an ongoing issue between Eric Garner and the New york police department weeks prior to the incident. In the video, Garner is seeing expressing to the policeman that he was tired of being harassed by the same policeman and he was not selling cigarettes. During the whole conversation more officers started to approach the scene and eventually as Garner was speaking the officers moved to arrest a much taller Eric Garner. After Garner resisted the arrest, officer daniel pantaleo approached garner and put him in what is an illegal chokehold and brought him to the ground. Four other officers restrained Garner in the sidewalk where he repeated “ I cant Breathe” 11 times to the police officers that was in the scene. After the incident the police department stated it was an unfortunate situation of man who had previous altercation with the police prior to july 17th 2014. After the incident medical examiners determine Garner’s cause of death was due to neck compression, and the compression of his chest and contributing health factors such as asthma and cardiovascular condition that correlates with his death. On December 3rd 2014 a grand jury decided not to
News reporters also took this time to voice their predictions as to how the community would respond based on the announcement of the grand jury’s decision. Some reporters anticipated peaceful protesting regardless of the jury’s decision, while others expected a chaotic riot to take place if a jury decision was announced that protesters did not
A grand jury in the Staten Island neighborhood of New York decided Wednesday not to file charges against the policeman who caused the death of African-American Eric Garner while he was arrested, judicial sources said.
For peaceful protestors, their message could be misinterpreted and taken the wrong way. The media need to consider the possibility that there might be people who might partake in the protests for no reason. Furthermore, the family of Michael Brown and President Obama appealed for everyone to act calm; however, this was not given as much footage as the violent incidents, stoking an already delicate situation further. In this particular case, the grand jury was given sufficient time, evidence and almost all the information. Although the evidence pointed around the facts that the people involved were an unarmed African-American teenager and a policeman and whether the police man was acting rightfully, the media sensationalized this news to such an extent that they made this story about race. Instead of concentrating on the actions and the ethics of the policeman and focusing on the jury’s decision, the media has therefore imprinted a false perception of the whole story. The media needs to think about a better way to portray the news as to prevent a division within the
The shooting left the Blacks in the city of Ferguson in a state of outrage. Anger raced through the veins of the citizens which prompted a series of demonstrations, which spread rapidly across the country. Brown’s death sparked protests and discussions about race and the abuse of police power in society. Protests began to flare after the Ferguson police officer was not indicted. St. Louis grand jury brought no criminal charges against Darren Wilson, who shot Michael Brown fatally in nearby Ferguson. The decision of
I think the grand jury is better because unlike preliminary hearings, the grand jury see and hear only what is put before them by the prosecutors. Adversary proceeding does not change the grand jury’s decision about a case. Also, grand juries most of the time, return indictments as requested by prosecutors, which makes grand juries notorious for “being rubberstamps for the prosecutor for virtually all routine matters” (Berman, S. J).
The court can either choose to do a preliminary hearing or grand jury for John's first appearance.. In a preliminary hearing is conducted with no jury and the judge is the fact finder. A grand jury hearing is where the prosecution presents the case to a group of citizens outside the presence of the defendant and they (the grand jurors) are asked to determine whether probable cause exists based on the evidence presented to them by the prosecution.
The final report of the Grand Jury concluded that due to the discrepancies found between the physical evidence of the crime scene and the officers’ accounts there were insufficient grounds to establish probable cause to charge the officers for violation of civil rights.
Grand jury is a group that examines accusations against persons charged with a crime, the grand jury does not decide guilt or innocence. Its function is inquisitorial and accusatorial. Standard court trial juries are normally 6 or 12people, yet in the government framework, a fantastic jury can be 16 to 23 individuals. There is no judge display and as often as possible there are no legal advisors aside from the prosecutor. The prosecutor will disclose the law to the jury and work with them to assemble confirm and hear declaration completely implies that crafted by the excellent jury isn't made receivable to the general population or, in most cases, to the respondent or defendant. Only an Assistant of United States Attorney and a stenographer meet with the grand jurors and plus those witnesses who are subpoenaed to give proof. under typical court guidelines of confirmation, displays and other declaration must follow excessively strict standards previously affirmation. The Grand Jury is superior to the preliminary hearing system in that the evidence is heard in camera and without undue influence. In most cases when the police arrest someone for a crime, the case goes to a lower court for a Preliminary hearing and after that, if the Judge of the lower court finds Probable Cause then the case is referred to the higher Court of Record who then assigns it to be
The original purpose was to consider cases of murder, robbery and wife beating. In the earls 1700s the Grand Jury was recognized for its value and was a very supported system. The Grand Jury became indispensable to the government, it provided a well system to screen criminal indictments. Even in the 17th century, failure to perform juror service
The grand juries verdict of non-indictment questioned if a police officer commits the reproached crime. Contrasting the circumstance if the perpetrator is civilian, it does not raise further inquiries. Such as, in the Eric Garner case the existence of the grand juries brought into question due to the decision the grand juries made. The legitimacy of the case raised the demand of grand juries being open to the public when it hears cases involving police officers. The purpose of grand juries is to conduct an investigation before any charges brought against the perpetrator. By making it public in regards to crime, when it involves law enforcement officers, it will not only defeat the purpose of its mission.
August 9th 2014, Ferguson Missouri, an unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot, and fatally wounded by a white police officer by the name of Darren Wilson. As a direct result of deciding not to indict Officer Wilson, the black community was out raged! Riots, looting, and damage to businesses soon followed the judge’s ruling. The trial was unlike normal trials which were treated with more expedience in the process, the grand jury in Officer Wilson case met for three months and 25 days. (Buchanan, et. al. 2014)
In the past year, the whole world has had its attention drawn to domestic conflicts between white police officers and black civilians. Since the invention of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in 2013, there have been over 50 million posts on Twitter alone under the hashtag. The recent incidents, largely prompted by the shootings of Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, and the murder of Eric Garner by white officers, has brought both the topics of racism and the militarization of the police into public discourse. Arguably, however, it is the treatment of these cases in court, and the non-indictments of Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo in their respective grand jury proceedings, that have ignited protests and riots from many across the nation who insist
For instance, the shooting of the unarmed Michael Brown and the death of Eric Garner promoted the unrest and protests all over the country (Ariel et al., 2014). The grand jury failed to charge the police officers involved. In the case of Garner, the court made a decision despite the witness had recorded the incidence using the cell phone video recorder (Ariel et al., 2014). The use of excessive force by the police officers has a lasting impact on the public views of the police officer and community relationship. In responding to these occurrences, the former president Barrack Obama in December 2014 proposed an allocation of $ 263million to assist in community policing.