Grand Juries are controversial seatings where a jury decides whether there is enough evidence to
charge an individual with a felony crime. The Grand Jury dates back to 12th Century England, where
they were abolished in 1933. The Grand Jury originally acted as a buffer between the monarch's
prosecutors and the citizenry so that prosecutors could not just bring anyone to trial, but must
first show probable cause to charge any given individual with a crime. Today, Grand Juries do not
act as a buffer between the accused and the accuser, but rather act as a convenient conduit to
bring someone to trial. This is so even to the extent that a former New York Chief Judge, Sol
Wachtler, said that any prosecutor that wanted to, could indict a ham sandwich.
The Process
When a Grand Jury begins, the jurors are not pre-screened for bias in the
way that normal trial (i.e., petit) jurors are screened. Anyone, despite their biases for or
against the target of the investigation can sit on a grand jury. Once the jury has been filled the
prosecutor displays evidence and calls subpoenaed individuals (i.e., alleged witnesses) to testify.
There is no defense nor a judge to mediate the hearing, and it is up to the prosecutor to direct
the process. The subpoenaed individuals, despite Sixth Amendment guarantees, have no right to
have counsel in the room where the grand jury is meeting, but may have counsel outside, interrupt
the proceedings and meet with counsel before answering any questions. They may also plead the
Fifth Amendment which protects the individual from incriminating themself. Once this is done,
however, the prosecutor may grant the individual "immunity" meaning that any testimony given during
the grand jury may not be used to convict that individual (though that individual may still be
indicted of that crime through other evidence or grand jury testimony). If the subpoenaed
individual still refuses to answer questions, they are brought before a judge on contempt charges.
If found in contempt of court, the subpoenaed individual can be detained through the duration of
the Grand Jury, which can last up to three years.
The Result
In the last few years, Grand Juries have been used more frequently to seek indictments for unsolved
acts of property destruction against targets that were chosen for their negative environmental
impact. Since federal investigators have little evidence to bring anyone to trial, Grand Juries
became a tool to hunt for suspects by subpeonaing individuals in the environmental movement. They
hope to turn their "guesswork into possible evidence" by subpoenaing vulnerable people like single mothers
who can not risk being taken from their children. Grand Juries can also be used as a form of
harrassment as in the case of former Earth Liberation Front spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh who has been subpoenaed
eight times to Grand Juries since 1997.
From May through November of 2006,
Jeff Hogg was detained in prison for refusing to cooperate with a federal Grand
Jury probably relating to the FBI's Operation
Backfire. The Grand Jury was originally set to expire
on September 30, 2006, but a motion for his release was denied and a motion to extend the grand jury
until March was passed. He was released soon after several Operation Backfire defendants who turned police informant
negotiated plea agreements with federal prosecutors.
No one currently knows how many grand juries
are open and how many people have been subpoenaed to appear, but there are at least four grand juries
currently open on the west coast. One which includes Jeff Hogg and at least five other individuals
relating to Operation Backfire. A second in San Francisco where 10 people, ranging from
animal and environmental activists to independent media members and progressives, were served in
late-spring, 2005, with subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury. This grand jury is viewed
by these activists as an attempt to frighten activists and disable the animal rights and other
movements. Outside of the environmental and animal rights movements, two other grand juries are in
session in an effort to indict Ed Rosenthal on medicinal marijuana charges and one including Josh Wolf, who was jailed on August 1 when he refused to testify or
turn over unpublished video out-takes to a federal grand jury investigating a July, 2005 anti-G8
demonstration. More information about current grand juries can be found at
FBIWitchunt.com.