County grand juries in the United States determine whether to formally charge a suspect in a criminal case or provide oversight to county government in civil matters. They consist of randomly selected individuals and are required in California. They also exist in the federal court system and many state and/or county court systems. County civil juries oversee county government and investigate citizen complaints.
A county grand jury is a group of individuals charged with determining whether a person should be formally charged in a criminal case or who provide oversight to the county government in civil matters. Grand juries were once commonplace in many legal systems; however, they are now almost non-existent outside the United States. Within the United States, both the federal court system and many state and/or county court systems use grand juries. In California, for example, the state constitution requires all counties to have a grand jury convening at all times.
When county prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge a suspect in a criminal case, they often take the evidence to a county grand jury. In most cases, a criminal county grand jury consists of individuals randomly selected from the county’s voter registration roster to serve on the jury. The idea is to get a representative cross-section of the community as it would be present in a small jury convened to hear a criminal trial. Jurors may be called upon to serve for a day, a week, or more, depending on the county system.
Once the criminal county grand jury has been convened, the prosecutor or district attorney will present the jury members with the evidence they have against the suspect. Essentially, this is evidence that the prosecutor would present at trial if the case were to go to trial right then. Jury members are not charged with deciding guilt, but whether or not there is a suspicion strong enough to formally request the suspect to stand trial. In some jurisdictions, the prosecutor or district attorney has the choice of either charging the suspect directly or taking the case to a county grand jury for an indictment. In other jurisdictions, certain types of cases, such as serious crimes, are required by state law to be indicted by a grand jury indictment.
Many county governments also use county civil juries. A county civil grand jury is very different from a criminal grand jury. Members are usually appointed or selected by the county government or county judges and often serve for a year or more. A civil grand jury is charged with overseeing county government and investigating citizen complaints. All entities receiving county tax dollars are subject to a county civil grand jury investigation. Panel members usually have a lot of leeway to decide which entities they choose to investigate each year.
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