Had served as foreman on a Grand Jury once. We'd meet once a week to go over the prosecution's bills and have to spend all day listening to cops and other state agents tell us why someone should get indicted for a felony. I had to do this for like 2 months or so.
It's absolutely true that grand juries would indict a ham sandwich. Most just want to get the shit over with, but there were a handful who actually listened to testimony and asked questions of the investigators/witnesses. We actually succeeded in getting quite a few nothingburger bullshit cases tossed, and I felt pretty proud of it. If I remember correctly I did bring up nullification on one particular case and the people in the room who were listening seemed to recoil, but we got enough votes to no-bill the indictment.
I can't just blindly vote to put someone through the hell that is a felony indictment without some kind of check on the State. It felt good.
I think the prosecutor would hate to have me on a grand jury. I don't actually believe they should be able to be indicted without presenting a defence. There's a verse on that ;)
Had served as foreman on a Grand Jury once. We'd meet once a week to go over the prosecution's bills and have to spend all day listening to cops and other state agents tell us why someone should get indicted for a felony. I had to do this for like 2 months or so.
It's absolutely true that grand juries would indict a ham sandwich. Most just want to get the shit over with, but there were a handful who actually listened to testimony and asked questions of the investigators/witnesses. We actually succeeded in getting quite a few nothingburger bullshit cases tossed, and I felt pretty proud of it. If I remember correctly I did bring up nullification on one particular case and the people in the room who were listening seemed to recoil, but we got enough votes to no-bill the indictment.
I can't just blindly vote to put someone through the hell that is a felony indictment without some kind of check on the State. It felt good.
I think the prosecutor would hate to have me on a grand jury. I don't actually believe they should be able to be indicted without presenting a defence. There's a verse on that ;)
Definitely understand that. The cost of defending yourself from a felony indictment, not to mention the reputational damage, can be devastating.
I had no such mercy for thieves though. Quite a few were three-strikes shoplifters. (There's a few verses on that too!)