a jury in each county or federal court district which serves for a term of a year
and is usually selected from a list of nominees offered by the judges in the county
or district. The traditional 23 members may be appointed or have their names drawn
from those nominated. A Grand Jury has two responsibilities 1) to hear evidence
of criminal accusations in possible felonies (major crimes) presented by the District
Attorney and decide whether the accused should be indicted and tried for a crime.
Since many felony charges are filed by the District Attorney in a municipal or other
lower court which holds a preliminary hearing to determine if there is just cause
for trial instead of having the Grand Jury hear the matter, this function is of
minor importance in many jurisdictions. 2) to hear evidence of potential public
wrong-doing by city and county officials, including acts which may not be crimes
but are imprudent, ineffective or inefficient, and make recommendations to the county
and cities involved. Example a Grand Jury may recommend that a new jail is needed,
find that there is evidence of favoritism in the sheriff's office, that some city
council members are profiting by overlooking drug dealing by city staffers, or that
judges are not carrying a full load of cases to be tried.
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