What is a Grand Jury?
A grand jury is a jury of citizens, which considers a criminal case in order to decide if someone should be tried in a court of law.  The grand jury listens to the prosecutor and witnesses, and then votes in secret on whether they believe that enough evidence exists to charge the person with a crime.  NOTE:  This is much different from a criminal trial jury, who listen to evidence put on by both sides and then must decide whether the prosecution has proven each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

A grand jury views evidence put on by the prosecution only, and must simply decide whether enough evidence exists to charge (indict) a possible defendant.  They also may decide not to charge an individual based upon a lack of evidence, in which case no indictment would come from the grand jury.

All proceedings and statements made before a grand jury are sealed, meaning that only the people in the room have knowledge about who said what about whom. The grand jury is a constitutional requirement for certain types of crimes (meaning it is written in the United States Constitution) so that a group of citizens who do not know the defendant can make an unbiased decision about the evidence before voting to charge an individual with a crime.

Practically speaking, a grand jury is a group of between 9 and 16 people whose job it is to review potential criminal charges that the prosecutor wants to file against a defendant.  They are chosen from the general population and instructed on the grand jury process, and on the law applicable to a particular case.

Who can be a Grand Jury?
Grand jurors can be nearly any member of the public. They do not need to have a legal background. There are only a few qualifications to be a grand juror. Jurors have to:

• be at least 18 years old,
• be a U.S. citizen,
• be a resident of the jurisdiction in which the grand jury is going to sit,
• not have a felony-level conviction on their criminal background or, if they do, their civil
  rights must have been restored, and
• not been adjudicated mentally incompetent or insane.
  

What is the Time Period of Service of Grand Jurors?
The time period for Grand jurors depends on the size of their county:
• 120 days, if the county has more than 200,000 people in it, like in Pima or Maricopa County, or
• 180 days, if the county has fewer than 200,000 people.

How Grand Jury Proceedings takes place?
How a grand jury works is much more relaxed than normal court room proceedings. There is no judge present and frequently there are no lawyers except for the prosecutor. The prosecutor will explain the law to the jury and work with them to gather evidence and hear testimony. Under normal courtroom rules of evidence, exhibits and other testimony must adhere to strict rules before admission. However, a grand jury has broad power to see and hear almost anything they would like.

How Does a Grand Jury Differ from a Preliminary Hearing?
While all states have provisions in their laws that allow for grand juries, roughly half of the states don't use them. Courts often use preliminary hearings prior to criminal trials which are adversarial in nature. As with grand juries, preliminary hearings are meant to determine whether there is enough evidence, or probable cause, to indict a criminal suspect. Unlike a grand jury, a preliminary hearing is usually open to the public and involves lawyers on both sides and a judge (not so with grand juries which only involve the jurors and the prosecutor). Sometimes, a preliminary hearing precedes a grand jury. One of the biggest differences between the two is the requirement that a defendant request a preliminary hearing, although the court may decline a request.

What happens after a grand jury indictment?
If the grand jury decides to indict the person under investigation, the prosecutor will present
a draft indictment that lists the criminal charges to be filed. The grand jury can alter this draft indictment. The final version of the indictment is the true bill. It names the criminal charges that are actually to be filed against the defendant. All necessarily included offenses in each charge are implied in the indictment.

The grand jury may then issue the defendant a summons to appear in court, or an arrest warrant for the defendant. If the defendant is arrested, he or she has a right to an initial appearance within 24 hours.  At the initial appearance, the arraignment and an initial pretrial conference will be scheduled or, if the defendant takes a plea agreement, a sentencing date will be set.

Challenging Grand Jury Proceedings
Because Grand Jury proceedings are conducted in secret, a defendant does not have the opportunity to object to, or to present any of their own evidence at the hearing.  However, if the grand jury does indict someone, a transcript of those proceedings is made available to the defense.  In the event that evidence was presented in an unfair way, i.e. the prosecution had exculpatory evidence that it failed to present, or presented knowingly false evidence at the hearing, the defendant can challenge the indictment.  The process by which this is done is called a motion to dismiss or remand, wherein a defendant asks the court to review the transcript and consider whether the evidence was properly presented.  If not, the court may dismiss the case, or send it back for new grand jury proceedings, this time without the evidentiary error that occurred the first time.

IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH A CRIME IN ARIZONA, CONTACT THE TUCSON DEFENDERS FOR A FREE CONSULTATION WITH A CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY.  520-585-5757.

UNABLE TO AFFORD AN ATTORNEY, BUT STILL WANT TO CHOOSE YOUR OWN LAWYER?
In Arizona, criminal defendants who have appointed counsel (e.g. Public Defender, Appointments Panel, etc.) may have the option of hiring an attorney of their choice to work with their appointed attorney.  This process applies to individuals who are indigent and are unable to afford to hire an attorney of their choice to handle the entire case, but can still hire an attorney to do a portion of the work on their case.

The concept of Knapp Counsel is based on an Arizona Supreme Court case that is Knapp v. Hardy in which the Court held that ‘a Defendant has the right to have a Private Attorney associate with the Public Defender’s Office in defense of their case.  What this means is that a private criminal defense lawyer may assist an appointed attorney, in the form of joint representation, for the betterment of a Defendant’s case.  Simply having two attorneys working on a case instead of one will generally be advantageous, but there may also be more specific reasons a defendant may wish to bring on a private attorney to join in their defense.

The most obvious benefit of having a private defense attorney represent you as Knapp counsel, is that this means you will be able to get an attorney of your choice on your side for a fraction of the cost.  People in serious situations have two legal minds cooperating for their benefit, along with the advantages of having government resources available to aid in their defense.  Every lawyer, just like every person, will have their strengths and weaknesses.  When two lawyers with different strengths work together, the results can be great. 

This type of association is not well known by the public, but those who discover its advantages can definitely reap the benefits.  In more ways than one, this costs less than having the private lawyer replace the public defender as attorney of record.  Not only will the private attorney be doing less work on the case, and thereby not charging for the work done by the appointed attorney, but indigent defendants who hire Knapp counsel still receive the benefit of the state paying for some of the ancillary costs of litigation.  Investigators, expert witnesses, transcription services, etc. can become quite costly, and are all costs which indigent defendants are entitled to have covered by the court.  When a defendant has private counsel, they may still seek the appointment of an investigator or expert at county expense, but it will be less likely to be granted, potentially denying a defendant the ability to prepare the best defense.

It should be noted that most appointed attorneys, particularly those who work for a public defender agency, have undergone extensive training in criminal law, and will typically have a great amount of experience in criminal law.  Under no circumstances should a criminal defendant assume that retained counsel is necessarily better equipped to defend the case.

According to the judgment of the Supreme Court, court opined that “Counsel should be provided to any person who is financially unable to obtain adequate representation without substantial hardship to himself or his family. Counsel should not be denied to any person merely because his friends or relatives have resources adequate to retain counsel or because he has posted or is capable of posting bond.” 

“A defendant may have more than one attorney, and the public defender's office may assign one or more attorneys to represent a particular defendant depending upon the seriousness of the case and the competency and experience of the attorneys assigned. We have been unable to find anything which prevents the association of private counsel with the public defender's office in the defense of an indigent. It is, of course, not improper for a relative of the defendant to hire people to help and assist, and the fact that the indigent defendant already has the aid of the public defender's office does not limit the help a defendant may receive. We feel that it is preferable to have counsel thus assisting to be associated and made a counsel of record with reciprocal rights and duties under our Rules of Criminal Procedure and subject to the direction of the court as to the particular case in which he is involved.”

If you or a loved one is in need a criminal defense attorney, and has already been appointed counsel, you might consider exploring this additional option for a team defense.  Contact the Tucson Defenders today for a FREE CONSULTATION.  520-585-5757.