The grand jury and preliminary hearings are twin safeguards against prosecutorial abuse.

Evidence

To protect against governmental abuse of its prosecutorial power, defendants in the United States cannot be tried for a felony until the case against them has been reviewed by someone other than a law enforcement official. The prosecution must demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the accused committed the crime. In many states, this process of formal accusation occurs during a preliminary hearing before a lower court judge. … In federal courts and in some state courts, however, the process of formal accusation takes a different form. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that felony prosecutions in federal court be initiated by a grand jury indictment-that is, by a determination by an independent body of citizens that there is sufficient evidence to go to trial. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1700

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows the two distinct formal accusation mechanisms federal and state felony prosecutions use.
• XREF: Connects to the advisory jury concepts discussed in the course’s jury chapters. — connects to: Grand juries operate as secret, prosecutor-dominated accusatory bodies under a probable-cause standard. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1709