Preliminary Examination and the Grand Jury (From Criminal Justice Administration Cases and Materials, Fourth Edition, P 713-737, 1991, Frank W Miller, Robert O Dawson, et al. -- See NCJ-129355)

• NCJ Number: 129369
• Author(s): F W Miller; R O Dawson; G E Dix; R I Parnas
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Foundation Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter presents legal principles and court decisions pertinent to the use of the preliminary examination and the grand jury as limits on prosecutorial discretion in bringing charges.

Abstract

Virtually all jurisdictions provide some sort of pretrial mechanism to screen prosecutors' decisions to bring serious charges against a person. The two devices most often used are the preliminary examination and the grand jury. Both involve scrutiny of the sufficiency of evidence to support actual or proposed charges. The preliminary examination is frequently held in a lower court that lacks jurisdiction to try the case on its merits. In Coleman v. Alabama (1970), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Alabama preliminary hearing is a critical stage of the State's criminal process at which the accused is as much entitled to aid of counsel as at the trial itself. In Myers v. Commonwealth (1973), the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the preliminary hearing to determine probable cause must involve an adversarial process that provides the defendant a meaningful opportunity to challenge the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses and to raise affirmative defenses. Regarding the nature of grand jury evidence sufficient to bring an indictment, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Costello v. United States (1956) that hearsay evidence is admissible in determining probable cause to bring charges or continue criminal proceedings against a defendant. Case notes are provided.