# State Grand Juries: Any Mandated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 13, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954 "2007-02-13T01:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/1 "2007-02-13T01:18:05Z")
Reference is of course to [Who invented the grand jury?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgrandjury.html), 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/2 "2007-02-13T12:49:56Z")
I don’t recall. Maybe \*\*Bricker \*\* knows. If not, I’ll look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/3 "2007-02-13T13:17:54Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. [http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/spring02/29967.htm](http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/spring02/29967.htm) > [@](#): > > 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](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/sco98.pdf) (table 43 lists the states that do–or did as late as 1998). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/4 "2007-02-13T19:26:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/5 "2007-02-13T20:56:44Z")
Thank you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/6 "2007-02-13T21:19:06Z")
> [@](#): > > 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](http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/cqcgi?CQ_SESSION_KEY=ARGPJEBDTHMU&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=126338&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=6&CQ_TLO_DOC_TEXT=YES) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/7 "2007-02-13T21:27:58Z")
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](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/sco04.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-grand-juries-any-mandated/391954/8 "2007-02-13T22:41:17Z")
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.