Posted on June 22, 2007.
Rensselaer County Legislator Kevin Harrington, a Democrat, wants to see a special prosecutor look into whether time sheets at the county dispatch center were falsified.
Harrington’s comments come after District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis, a Republican, closed the investigation when Dean Myer, a dispatcher, refused to waive his immunity when he testified before the grand jury.
Myer claimed that supervisors in the dispatch center falsified their time sheets.
Myer wouldn’t waive his immunity and DeAngelis closed the case.
“It is incomprehensible that the DA would demand that a whistle blower sign away his immunity from prosecution before testifying before a grand jury.
A cooperating witness is normally encouraged to testify and, under state law, has automatic immunity,” stated Harrington, a member of the Legislature’s Public Safety & Judiciary Committee, in a release today.
“I can only conclude that the DA did this deliberately and has no intention of allowing potentially damaging sworn testimony to be heard by the grand jury. I, therefore, believe that a special District Attorney should be impaneled to review this case and permit the testimony of the whistle blower with the same procedural immunity of any grand jury witness.
Once given, let the grand jury weigh the credibility of the testimony and act according,” Harrington continued. http://blog.timesunion.com/localpoli...ecutor-needed/
A grand jury in North Carolina Tuesday declined to indict a Charlotte police officer for voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed man this past September. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/22...g-unarmed-man/ typical grand jury has 18 members.
IC 35-34-2-2
Number; impaneling; scope of function and authority; convening
Sec. 2. (a) A grand jury shall consist of six (6) grand jurors and one (1) alternate and may be impaneled by the circuit court or a superior court with criminal jurisdiction. A grand jury shall hear and examine evidence concerning crimes and shall take action with respect to this evidence as provided by law. (b) The court shall call the grand jury into session at the request of the prosecuting attorney.
Grand Jury California is served by a grand jury system that provides a grand jury in each county empowered by law to bring indictments or perform an oversight function into the operation of county and municipal governments. Federal grand juries and county grand juries in most other states are concerned only with criminal indictments and have no civil responsibilities. http://www.riverside.courts.ca.gov/g...randjury.shtml
Grand juries shall consist of fifteen persons who satisfy the qualifications of a juror specified in section 2313.17 of the Revised Code. Persons to serve as grand jurors in the court of common pleas of each county shall be selected from the persons whose names are contained in the annual jury list . http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2939
A grand jury consists of 12 or 23 members in addition to four alternates. At any meeting of a grand jury at least nine grand jurors constitutes a quorum. (CRS 13-72-102). http://www.courts.state.co.us/Media/...and_juries.pdf
The United States is the only common law jurisdiction in the world that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments. Generally speaking, a grand jury may issue an indictment for a crime, also known as a "true bill," only if it finds based upon the evidence that has been presented to it that there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed by a criminal suspect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_j..._United_States
Paul Boyden, a member of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors, said that Utah law currently gives no clear standards for judges to apply when trying to determine if a grand jury is the appropriate course of action. In addition, there’s no outlet for prosecutors to appeal to if the judges deny a request for a grand jury hearing. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57...state.html.csp
Traditionally, grand juries served as a shield between unjust prosecution by the state and the individual. Grand juries serve dual functions. The grand jury's primary role is to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to justify indicting an accused individual. 1 To make such determinations, a grand jury also serves as an investigating body with subpoena powers. 2 In Florida, a grand jury indictment is required only to try a person for a capital offense; i.e., one where the death penalty may be given. 3 Otherwise, the state attorney has concurrent authority to file a formal accusation of the commission of a crime (an "information"). 4 The information is used routinely to charge individuals in Florida. In addition to capital cases, grand juries often are utilized for controversial cases such as those involving alleged wrongdoing by public officials. http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/...4!OpenDocument