Grand Jury Service: An Empowering Experience

welcome to the Democratic process your call to jury duty may be the most important Civic role you perform outside of a voting booth as a participant in this great democracy here in New York with our system of checks and balances it's the responsibility of the state as represented by the prosecution to present the evidence against any person accused of a criminal act it's the duty of a grand jury you people sitting here today to review that evidence and determine whether that accusation is legally Justified as Grand jurors your decisions must be based on the evidence and the law and as you serve always remember that our grand jury system is designed to help protect the rights of citizens and uphold the laws of the land I'm Leslie stall of 60 minutes [Music] here you are ready to begin your grand jury service but many of you may be asking what is a grand jury anyway and how is it different from a trial jury well those are really good questions and here's a simple brief answer a grand jury decides whether or not a person should be formally accused of a crime if that decision is yes the grand jury issues what's known as an indictment an indictment is a grand jury's formal written accusation of a crime a grand jury does not decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty that's the job of a trial jury there are other important differences between a grand jury and a trial jury for example the burden of proof a grand jury determines whether there is legally sufficient evidence and reasonable cause to believe that a person committed an offense whereas a trial jury determines whether the prosecution has proved the accused guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt a grand jury proceeding is also different from a jury trial because a grand jury typically hears only from the prosecutor and the prosecutor's Witnesses but there's one thing about grand jury and trial jury service that's the same you must not read or listen to news stories about the case and you must not use the internet to search for information about the case the lawyers or any individuals involved in the case your decisions must be based only on the evidence presented in the Grand Jury Room now I'm here to give all of you an idea of what you'll be doing as a grand juror and by the way I think you'll find it a fascinating experience first of all each of you will receive a copy of article 190 of the Criminal procedure law which governs grand jury proceedings this is the legal framework but let's take a brief look at how the whole system operates in most instances the process starts when a person is arrested though there may be occasions when a grand jury is asked to consider an indictment before an arrest now that's where your work begins when you begin your service you'll be brought into a grand jury room much like this the configuration of the Grand Jury Room may vary from County to County as you can see there are 23 of you a number established in English common law centuries ago the court will choose your foreperson and assistant forers you will choose your recording secretary a stenographer will be present to record the testimony and instructions the official record one once you're seated and sworn in the prosecutor will arrive to begin presenting the first case to you a presentation that will set forth the evidence against an alleged offender good morning I'm an assistant district attorney in New York County I'm here this morning to present the case of the people against John Doe at the conclusion of the presentation I will ask you to vote on one count of robbery in the first degree you will hear evidence this morning from the presentations you'll hear from an assistant district attorney may include homicide robbery Grand larsy narcotics crimes possession of stolen property rape sodomy assault arson kidnapping burglary possession of weapons practically the whole spectrum of the criminal law this doesn't mean you'll necessarily hear these cases in your grand jury term it simply means you could the prosecutor will present the case call witnesses and instruct you on the law you will note that no judge is present during grand jury proceedings the entire presentation is handled by the prosecutor but the judge who oversees the grand jury is available should the need arise most presentations take only a short time although some cases might run for several days or more yes sir was it light enough inside the building for the victim to take a good look at the man that attacked her I'll have the witness come back in and ask her that question if you have questions for a witness or questions about the law or about the evidence you may ask these questions of the prosecutor during the presentation or you may ask to speak to a judge the prosecutors and judges are your legal advisers and as you will read in article 190 you are forbidden by law to seek or receive legal advice from any other source you should also know that the accused person has a right to appear before the grand jury on his or her own behalf he or she may also ask the grand jury for permission to present other Witnesses for the defense but keep in mind that no accused person has a duty to appear or present Witnesses and may not even know of the grand jury proceeding as a result it's very rare for an accused person to appear before a grand jury or present Witnesses and don't come to any conclusion positive or negative because the defendant does or does not appear and perhaps this is a good time to remind you that all grand jury proceedings are strictly secret it's against the law to reveal anything about the cases presented to you and there are good reasons for this this strict secrecy ensures that witnesses can cooperate fully it encourages free and open deliberation among Grand jurors and it protects the innocent person who may be investigated but never indicted but now back to the proceedings according to New York penal law article 160.5 robbery in the first degree is a class B felony and it reads a person is guilty of robbery in the first degree when he forcibly steals property and when in the course of the commission of the crime or of immediate flight there from after presenting Witnesses the prosecutor will explain to you what law the defendant is accused of violating after that the grand jury will deliberate in secret and decide if there's enough evidence to indict the defendant he or another participant in the crime causes serious physical injury to any person who is not a participant in the crime that concludes the presentation of the evidence in this case we're going to step outside and now and then you'll be left alone to deliberate and vote the law requires at least 16 of you to be present to make a quorum of the 16 a vote of 12 or more who have heard the evidence is required for an indictment if in your deliberations you vote Yes for an indictment this means the defendant has now been formally Accused by the people of the state of New York this case will go to a trial court where the defendant May exercise his or her right to a jury trial and it will be up to that jury the trial jury to decide guilt or non- guilt if you do not vote for an indictment then the charges you heard against the accused are dismissed the end of that particular case you should also know that as a grand grand jury in addition to your vote on an indictment you also have the authority in some cases to direct the filing of criminal charges to a local criminal court or send the case to family court or submit a report on issues concerning the public interest the prosecutor will inform you when it's appropriate to consider one of these actions and that's it now then how important is your decision well look at it this way accusing a person of a crime is Serious Business it is you collectively who decide whether or not to make this formal accusation as Grand jurors you're a cross-section of the community and as such you are serving as an arm of the Court not as an agent of the police or the prosecutor it's essential for you to be attentive and fair-minded in hearing cases and in your deliberations because you and your decisions are part of the foundation of the Criminal justice system here in New York [Music] state in a typical year in cour houses like these all across the state of New York Grand juries such as yours will hear some 35,000 presentations or cases grand jury presentations range from the 9,000 or so each year in the most populated counties of New York City to less than 100 in smaller counties to keep this vast justice system moving swiftly fairly and efficiently requires a dedicated core of Judges attorneys Court administrators and Grand jurors just like you I'm Jonathan Lipman chief judge of the state of New York more than a decade ago the court system launched a comprehensive program of jury reform I'd like to share some of the improvements with you for one thing we made the jury selection pool much broader and more inclusive persons from all occupations and income levels are now expected to serve this Rich mix of all segments of our society is our best guarantee of a truly diverse and representative grand jury further we have established convenient qualification procedures juror qualification questionnaires can now be completed online or via telephone today jurors are summoned less often and jurors who serve more than 10 days are excused from service for eight years in addition every juror is now entitled to one automatic postponement online or through an automated phone system may even select the date to serve we've created a grand jurus handbook which includes criminal procedure law article 190 it's a handy guide you can refer to throughout your service we've made a concerted effort to provide you with comfortable clean secure facilities and amenities and with your help we want to continue making improvements if you see something that could be improved please tell us the fact is we want to do everything in our power to make your grand jury experience as satisfying and rewarding as we possibly can in return we ask you to bring to your grand jury duties a true sense of involvement and dedication your mission is twofold really on the one hand to use your power as Grand jurors to investigate crimes and hand up an indictment when sufficient evidence exists to do so on the other when the evidence is insufficient to protect people from Criminal accusations by not handing up an indictment without your commitment our system simply doesn't work but working together we will continue to ensure for all of us our most basic American Heritage justice for all thank you for your time and for your good service [Music] w [Music]

Channel: NYS Courts

Views: 63,723

Keywords: Grand jury, criminal justice, jonathan lippman, lesley stahl, New York State Unified Court System, Rights, Jury (Quotation Subject), Government

Id: A4HIZzNvsOk

Length: 15min 19sec (919 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2015