Who's on the DC fed'l grand jury Fitzgerald answers to? Who appointd them?

[Bucky]

Fitz can make the case -- I know he's trying. But the indictment is up to the grand jury. Who's on that grand jury? If they're federal appointees, what's the chance they could be watering down the extent of the damage, or letting some of the White House conspirators off the hook? Or at least one of them being a loyal enough Republican to send key investigation info back to the White House thru some channels?

[Deep13]

1. my understanding ...

... is they are drawn from the DC trial court jury pool and don't know what cases they will hear prior to appointment.

[pearl]

2. They're drawn from the voting pool in DC

Which is 90% Dem; ordinary citizens, voters.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. There was something the other day about the make up of the grand jury

Large percentage black as would be consistent with the demographics of DC. Regardless it the prosecutor wants an indictment, they generally get it. It's a pretty low threshold.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Proverbial indictment of a ham sandwich

That's the next spin, after the indictments come down. It is, of course, true that a prosecutor can usually get an indictment if he or she wants one. But wait til you see the "law and order" types whining about the ease of indictment. Should be a comical spectacle...

[warrens]

15. Actually, that's not true

Grand juries tend to be pretty skeptical. They're acting sort of like judges and they know someone can be railroaded. It was tried with me and the grand jury laughed the case out of court. These people spend a lot of time on a single case, and by the end they have a pretty good idea if something criminal took place.

But yeah, if they indict someone, the GOP will spin it as a bunch of ignorant black folk who were bullied by an out of control prosecutor.

[hang a left]

16. Oh they will make a BIG deal

about the "demographics" of the jury.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. I believe the federal regulations require they be selected at random

from a fair cross section of the community in which the court sits. The selection is made from voter registration rolls and is supposed to represent a balance of the community's members. I think the judge who presides over the grand jury ensures that 23 members are empaneled to actually sit.

[DefenseLawyer]

5. A grand jury is chosen from the same pool of potential

jurors as those that get called for "jury duty" in a trial. Most if not all federal districts use voter registration for their jury pool. One main difference between a petite (trial) jury and a grand jury is that they meet for a longer period of time, although not every day of that time, so they can tend to have more retirees, students, etc that are able to commit to the longer term. Other than that they are just like any other jury pool.

[Bucky]

7. Is everybody SURE of this? State grand juries are appointed by DAs

Local grand juries tend to be community leaders, with a strong lean toward those who are known by top politicos. I would think this is especially so in federal jurisdictions. Plus Fitzgerald isn't reporting to the standing grand jury, as I understand it, but to a "special" grand jury, which could mean either appointed for this case in particular or a grand jury consisting of citizens with learning disabilities.

Does the judge select from the "randomly" chosen jury pool? Does the DA get a "strike" against certain grand jurors?

Thanks for helping out.

[DefenseLawyer]

10. Grand juries can't be appointed

in criminal cases in either state or federal courts, although there was a time when "blue ribbon" grand juries, made up of community leaders were commonly used, the Supreme Court has held that criminal grand juries must be made up of a random cross section of the community. You might find this link helpful http://www.udayton.edu/~grandjur/index.htm to answer some of your questions.

[Bucky]

11. Thanks. I also found this site

from: http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/superior/special_ops/jurors.jsp

Superior Court grand jurors serve for a 25-day term of service. The function of the grand jury is to investigate charges of crimes committed against the laws of the United States and/or of the District of Columbia. If the result of the investigation so warrants, the grand jury returns an indictment against the accused. There are a total of five Superior Court grand juries, each consisting of 23 persons. Three of the grand juries serve five days a week, Monday through Friday, for 25 workdays. The other two grand juries serve three days a week for 25 workdays. After the term of service is completed, grand jurors are summoned for two mandatory recall days to dispose of any unfinished business.

[Deep13]

12. not in Ohio. They are randomly selected.

Jurors are questioned prior to being seated mostly to make sure they have the time to do it.

[1932]

18. Where do you get your information??? Grand juries aren't appointed!

[skids]

8. Mostly black elderly women.

...is what I heard. At the very least, the foreperson of the GJ is.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Deep13]

13. one other thing...

The G.J. needs a majority vote for indictment. It does not need to be unanimous as it does for a trial decision.

[Rene]

14. Bolton - recess appt on Friday so he can slip into Diplomatic Immunity????

Fitzgerald and/or that grand jury better indict Bolton(Miller's source) quickly before the threatened recess appointment on Friday and he gets the cover of "diplomatic immunity".
Bolton's the guy who dug out the dossier on Plame and gave it to Powell for the flight.
Fleischer must be waiting for the process server to knock on his door also.

[hang a left]

17. Would he still have diplomatic immunity for a crime

commited before he was a diplomat?

[fob]

19. From the replies it's simply members of the community so there is

minimal probability of influence from the inside, but what do you want to bet bush*co is working those families from the outside? A cushy job here, a few bucks there, help with some law over yonder and on the other side putting pressure on some families or screwing em up some way somehow. I'm with you, if there's some influence to be heaped upon the GJ, bush*co WILL do it.

A crime family with the reach of bush*co doesn't just sit by and let one of the capo's get indicted.

Edit: here's hoping they* not only fail at that, but if they* are doing it they* get caught at that too!