State Grand Juries: Any Mandated?

[Polycarp]

Reference is of course to Who invented the grand jury?, a staff report by Gfactor.

Federal grand juries are enshrined in the Constitution, but in 1972 the Supreme Court declared in Alexander v. Louisiana that the federal requirement didn’t apply to the states.

I.e., state felony prosecutions do not require grand jury indictment as a guarantee of the Federal Constitution.

My question, which may have turned up in Gfactor’s researches is, “Are there states in which the requirement of a grand jury indictment for a felony prosecution is enshrined in the state constitution?” (And hence, since Alexander is permissive rather than mandative, effectively protected constitutionally, since it will not become a federal question.)

[Gfactor]

I don’t recall. Maybe **Bricker ** knows. If not, I’ll look into it.

[Gfactor]

A defendant has a right under the Grand Jury Clause of Section 4 of Article III of the West Virginia Constitution to be tried only on felony offenses for which a grand jury has returned an indictment.

West Virginia Judiciary - Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia

Grand jury indictments for all felony prosecutions were
required in 14 States and in an additional 4 States
for capital and/or life imprisonment cases. The size of grand
juries ranged from 6 members in Indiana to
23 members in Maryland and Massachusetts.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/sco98.pdf (table 43 lists the states that do–or did as late as 1998).

[Elendil_s_Heir]

From the Ohio Constitution’s Bill of Rights, Art. I, Sec. 10:

“Except in cases of impeachment, cases arising in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, and cases involving offenses for which the penalty provided is less than imprisonment in the penitentiary, no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous, crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; and the number of persons necessary to constitute such grand jury and the number thereof necessary to concur in finding such indictment shall be determined by law…”

Emphasis added.

[Polycarp]

Thank you.

[pravnik]

The Texas Constitution

Article 1 - BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 10 - RIGHTS OF ACCUSED IN CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury. He shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof. He shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself, and shall have the right of being heard by himself or counsel, or both, shall be confronted by the witnesses against him and shall have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, except that when the witness resides out of the State and the offense charged is a violation of any of the anti-trust laws of this State, the defendant and the State shall have the right to produce and have the evidence admitted by deposition, under such rules and laws as the Legislature may hereafter provide; and no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, unless on an indictment of a grand jury, except in cases in which the punishment is by fine or imprisonment, otherwise than in the penitentiary, in cases of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army or navy, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger. (Amended Nov. 5, 1918.)

Constitution of the State of Texas

[Gfactor]

Here is a more current version of the report I cited earlier. The grand jury stuff is in Table 38 this time. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/sco04.pdf

[Billdo]

From the New York State Constitution, Article I, section 6:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime (except in cases of impeachment, and in cases of militia when in actual service, and the land, air and naval forces in time of war, or which this state may keep with the consent of congress in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny under the regulation of the legislature), unless on indictment of a grand jury, except that a person held for the action of a grand jury upon a charge for such an offense, other than one punishable by death or life imprisonment, with the consent of the district attorney, may waive indictment by a grand jury and consent to be prosecuted on an information filed by the district attorney; such waiver shall be evidenced by written instrument signed by the defendant in open court in the presence of his or her counsel.

Former New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler once famously quipped (several years before he was indicted himself for harrassing his mistress and her teenage daughter): “Even a modestly competent district attorney can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.”

A few friends of mine have served on New York grand juries in recent years, and though they mostly indicted, they did reject indictment of several of the defendants, so the system has some value in limited cases.