grand jury

Under U.S. federal practice, grand jury materials are typically kept secret and courts apply a high legal standard to justify the rare unsealing of grand jury transcripts.

When grand jury material is produced publicly, courts or the Department of Justice commonly redact victim-related and other personally identifying information before release.

Misstatements of law presented to a grand jury, the use of potentially privileged communications in an investigation, and unexplained irregularities in grand jury transcripts are types of investigative deficiencies that can undermine the integrity of grand jury proceedings.

Grand jury materials are typically kept secret and are not disclosed publicly as part of normal grand jury proceedings.

Courts may, as an extraordinary remedy, order disclosure of grand jury materials to a defendant when there is a prospect that government misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings and disclosure is necessary to protect the defendant's legal rights.

Judges can conduct in-camera review of grand jury materials to assess whether disclosure is warranted due to potential prosecutorial or law enforcement misconduct affecting the integrity of the grand jury process.

In U.S. federal criminal practice, a grand jury can decline to indict on a felony charge, after which prosecutors may pursue a reduced misdemeanor charge.

In the U.S. federal criminal system, a grand jury can decline to indict on a felony charge, after which prosecutors may still file misdemeanor charges in court.

A grand jury can decline to indict on a felony charge, after which prosecutors may pursue a lesser charge such as a misdemeanor.

A grand jury has the authority to decline to return an indictment on a felony charge.

Federal career prosecutors may decline to bring criminal charges or present matters to a grand jury when they determine there is insufficient evidence.

Grand juries are secret proceedings in which defendants and defense attorneys are generally not present to ask questions or defend themselves.

A grand jury indictment can, in some U.S. jurisdictions, supersede previously filed charges and allow legal proceedings to proceed without a preliminary hearing.

A court can declare indictments invalid if the person who presented the charges to a grand jury was not lawfully appointed to serve as a U.S. Attorney.

In federal criminal investigations, a grand jury can authorize investigative steps such as subpoenas or analyses of phone records.

Materials from criminal investigations can be protected by grand jury secrecy rules, which may limit disclosure of those materials to third parties or the public.

Federal grand jury secrecy rules restrict what witnesses, including former prosecutors, can publicly disclose about grand jury proceedings without prior Department of Justice authorization.

Federal criminal indictments are presented to a grand jury as part of the federal prosecution process.

Local rules for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia require the chief judge to hear and determine all proceedings before the grand jury.

A district attorney's office may present findings from a criminal investigation to a grand jury to determine whether to file charges.

In U.S. federal prosecutions, a grand jury can decline to indict on felony charges, after which prosecutors may pursue lesser charges such as misdemeanors.

Federal grand juries deliberate and vote on whether to return indictments, and prosecutors can edit an indictment to remove counts that the grand jury did not approve.

U.S. magistrate judges can preside over the return of federal indictments and may be presented with both an indictment document and a grand-jury report indicating the grand jury's failure to concur on certain counts.

Grand jury transcripts are typically secret under U.S. federal practice.

A criminal prosecution initiated without a valid grand-jury indictment can raise constitutional concerns under the Fifth Amendment's grand jury clause.

Interim U.S. Attorneys can be appointed to lead U.S. Attorney's Offices and may present cases to grand juries and sign indictments.