Who serves on a grand jury?

Question

Lawyers, retired or new lawyers, judges, volunteers, paid by the state? Who are these people? Paralegals? Retirees? Who pays them? Who chooses them? Why do they spend so little time on each case that may ultimately change the course of someone's life?

I always hear of 'grand jury' indicttments, etc and want to know more about this. Thank you.

Answer 1

A grand jury is made up of any combination of registered voters, just like any other jury. You get called to jury duty for that the same way as any other jury duty - only it usually lasts a good bit longer.

The difference is that with regular jury duty, it's a trial where you are making a decision on one case. With grand jury duty, you are deciding, based on the evidence presented, whether or not to indict people on specific charges. When grand jury duty is done, the jurors go home - they are not involved with the trial phase. Grand juries are usually for a whole state, then whoever gets indicted from that grand jury goes to trial in whatever jurisdiction the arrest was made in.

Answer 2

A grand jury is a group of laypeople that are selected and sworn in by a court, just like jurors that are chosen to serve on a trial jury. Grand jurors are usually chosen from the same pool of people that provide trial jurors. A judge selects and swears in a grand jury, just like judges select and swear in trial juries. But grand juries differ from trial juries in the following ways:
Federal grand juries may sit for as long as 36 months, re-sworn in in 6 month increments.
State grand juries sit for a month, six months, or even a year.
Unlike trial jurors, though, grand jurors don't convene every day.
Sometimes, the grand jury doesn't convene unless a prosecutor asks it to, because the prosecutor has cases he or she wants the grand jury to hear.
Unlike trial juries, grand juries don't decide if someone is guilty of criminal charges that have been brought against them. Grand juries listen to evidence and decide if someone SHOULD be charged with a crime.

Answer 3

anyone who can serve on regular jury duty can be called for grand jury duty...my husband got called for grand jury duty once,his number was never called though but the papers did say if chosen you would be serving for up to 6 months...they basically decide if there is enough evidence to hold the person over for trial and to file charges

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Who serves on a grand jury?
Lawyers, retired or new lawyers, judges, volunteers, paid by the state? Who are these people? Paralegals? Retirees? Who pays them? Who chooses them? Why do they spend so little time on each case that may ultimately change the course of someone's life?

I always hear of 'grand...

Answer 5

The Grand jury is made of judges that we pay for ..how their picked I'm not sure tho.