A grand jury often has several roles in a felony court case.
“Prosecutors often leave the decision to grand juries on whether charges should be filed against a suspect, or indict them,” said Inessa Chavez, vice president of All American Bail Bonds in Santa Clarita. “Grand juries are much different than the regular trial juries we see in court.”
Grand juries typically consist of 15-23 people who meet secretly and decide if there is enough evidence for a trial, according to the California Bail Bonds Education textbook.
Regular trial juries, or petit juries, consist of six to 12 people who serve during public trials and determine if the suspect is guilty or not.
“During a grand jury session, the prosecutor presents the charges, or a ‘bill,’ and evidence to the jurors,” Chavez said. “Witnesses may be called to testify and the suspect may even be called as a witness to testify.”
Often times when suspects are called to testify, they refuse to testify under the Fifth Amendment of the United State Constitution.
When a grand jury makes a decision, they will return a “true bill” if they choose to indict the suspect and they will return a “no-bill” to the prosecutor if they choose not to indict the suspect.
Many Bail bonds businesses, like All American Bail Bonds in Santa Clarita, do not work with the suspect this far into the court process.
“At All American Bail Bonds in Santa Clarita, we often work with bailing out the suspect and then keep in contact with them or their family until their case is done,” Chavez said. “We often don’t work with grand juries.”
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