THE GRAND JURY PROCESS IN TEXAS

Anyone facing a felony criminal accusation should know and understand the grand jury process in Texas and in Tarrant County. All felony offense—from state jail felony level to capital cases—are presented to a grand jury. This is one of the first steps in the criminal justice system and one that make the difference between you facing a felony or the case being dismissed.

What is a grand jury?

A grand jury is body of citizens from Tarrant County (or whatever county a case is in) that examines a felony criminal case and determines whether there is sufficient probable cause for the case to continue on. If the jury determines that there is probable cause, the case is indicted. No felony case can proceed in Tarrant County or the state of Texas without an indictment. If the grand jury determines that there is not sufficient or enough probable cause, the case is no-billed. A No Bill essentially means the case goes away and prosecution will not be pursued.

Who makes up the Grand Jury

While a grand jury consists of citizens within Tarrant County, the process for selecting the make-up of the grand jury recently changed. As of September 1, 2015, counties are now required to use a more random selection process. Prior to September 2015, Tarrant County used an old and now outlawed grand jury system sometimes referred to as the commissioner system or “pick-a-pal”. Under the commissioner system, a district judge would select three to five commissioners—they could be people the judge knew—and then those commissioners would gather up other people who were interested in being grand jurors. From that potential pool, the district judge would select the grand jury. Using the commissioner system led to grand juries comprised of mostly older, white individuals. Now that process can no longer be used after House Bill 2150 banned the use of commissioners. The new system is thought to be fairer and to hopefully create a grand jury that is an actual representation of the county rather than just retired white people.

Grand jurors are currently selected in Tarrant County through a jury summons just like a regular jury. Those jurors are a random assortment of Tarrant County citizens that are then examined by the district judge to see if they can sit as grand jurors. The major difference between selecting a grand jury and a trial jury is who does the selecting. If a person is looking a trial, their criminal defense lawyer along with the prosecutor selects the jury. A grand jury is selected solely by the district judge and the jury will hear hundreds of case not just one.

Texas Grand Jury Process

Law enforcement agencies across the county submit criminal cases to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. The district attorney’s office then reviews the case. If the case is a misdemeanor level offense, a prosecutor reviews the case and decides whether to accept the case. If the case is accepted, the misdemeanor is filed and proceeds on to prosecution in a county court—there is no grand jury review. Felony level offenses are reviewed by a prosecutor who decides whether to accept the case, but here if the case is accepted the process continues on to the grand jury stage.

Grand Jury Review of Felony Cases

Once a felony case has been submitted to the DA’s office and accepted by them, it is then assigned to a prosecutor in a district court. It is that assistant district attorney’s job to review the case and then present the case to the grand jury. The review process from the DA’s standpoint involves looking at offense reports from police, talking to witnesses and alleged victims, researching the law and any evidence submitted to them by a defense attorney. Once a prosecutor has completed that process and feels the case is ready to go before the grand jury, they will present the case.

Before a case is indicted, many people accused of crimes think that there is nothing that can be done and that its just a waiting game. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is during this time that a skilled criminal defense lawyer can do the exact same review process that the State is conducting to ensure that the grand jurors have fair view of the case and not just the State’s perspective.

A Secretive Criminal Prosecution Process

In Texas the grand jury process is secretive. A case is presented to the grand jury by the district attorney’s office without the accused or his attorney present—in fact they are forbidden from being in the room. Furthermore, anything discussed or said in the grand jury room is a secret. After the case is presented to the grand jurors by the DA’s office, the grand jury deliberates or votes on whether to indict the case. Most cases are presented in that exact fashion with no input or role from the accused or the accused’s criminal defense attorney, however it does not have to be that way. The accused has the right to make a presentation to the grand jurors.

Fort Worth Criminal Defense Attorney’s Role in Grand Jury

The grand jury process is often viewed as one sided because many times the jurors only hear from the State, but the accused has the right to also be heard. A criminal defense lawyer can make a grand jury presentation if they so desire. This presentation can consist of evidence and information that may be favorable to the accused and cause the grand jurors to decide there is no probable cause and they case should not go forward. Its crucial that an experience Fort Worth criminal defense attorney review your case as early as possible because once the case has been presented to the grand jury, its too late for the grand jury to reconsider evidence or information that a defense attorney would have presented. A good defense attorney can make all the difference between a case going forward or stopping right there.

Link to profile of Attorney Cody Cofer