As Few as 4 Grand Jurors Can Scuttle an Indictment

[Rose Siding]

The prosecutor presents evidence to the
12 grand jurors, nine of whom must agree
on whether a crime was committed and
whether there is probable cause to believe
the defendant committed it.

http://ago.mo.gov/publications/courtprocess.pdf

So it's possible that 8 of them wanted to return a true bill? No wonder reporters at McCulloch's soiree kept asking for the jury count. And no wonder that's the shred of secrecy he's still affording to the proceeding.

[Lee-Lee]

1. As few as 1 can scuttle a trial... nt

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Not in quite the same way.

Four Grand Jurors can stop a True Bill from being returned, and then no trial follows. One juror can hang a jury, but this commonly results in a retrial.

[Lee-Lee]

4. And a case can be represented to a new GJ the same as a retrial.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. My state doesn't use GJ's; I was not aware of that.

[Travis_0004]

2. If they can not get 9 on a low standard of evidence, they cant get 12 on a much higher standard.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. I translate this as:

If a prosecutor doesn't want a True Bill out of a Grand Jury, he be able to avoid a Guilty verdict on that case even more easily.

[Lee-Lee]

9. When I was on the job

When the DA thought a case was iffy they presented to the GC much like this one was, laying it all out. They figured if just laying out everything they knew, with no defense attorneys, couldn't get a simple indictment than a conviction was pretty well impossible.

[Rose Siding]

10. When you were on the job was it usual or unusual for the prosecutor to...

give a long and meandering press conference criticizing some grand jury witnesses and supporting others?

[Lee-Lee]

11. No cases I was involved in were a media circus with riots

So I don't think its comperable.

But I rember at least one self defense case where the DA took it in front of the GC and there was a no-bill and he did speak to the local paper at length about it. Not a cop, actually a Hispanic immigrant who killed a white redneck in self defense. Lots of local screaming about an illegal (he wasn't undocumented but that didn't matter to the racists) killing a citizen, but once it was all said and done he explained to the paper why it was no billed and why the GC was right.

[KingCharlemagne]

13. "GC"??? Do you mean "GJ"???? - nt

[Logical]

8. Not in cases of cops because the proscuter really don't want a conviction. Nt

[bettyellen]

7. And reporters were fed info it was a unanimous decision- leading many to report same as rumor

leakiest GJ ever- and then they blame the media. What bullshit.

[mainstreetonce]

12. Leakiest GJ ever

That is one of my problems. Someone leaked details constantly through the process.

That is against the law and could have nullified the GJ. I believe the police did it.