The grand jury may conduct hearings
to determine
whether there is sufficient evidence
to bring
an indictment charging a person with
a public
offense; however, the district attorney
usually
calls for impanelment of separate juries
drawn from the petit (regular trial)
jury
pool to bring criminal indictments.
The grand
jury has the power of subpoena.
The origin of the grand jury has been
traced
to the time of the Norman Conquest
of England
in 1066. Generally, historians agree
that
the assize (inquest) of Clarendon in
1164
was the genesis of our present grand
jury
system.
In the United States, the Massachusetts
Bay
Colony impaneled the first grand jury
in
1635 to consider cases of murder, robbery
and wife beating. By the end of the
colonial
period the grand jury had become an
indispensable
adjunct of government. Grand juries
proposed
new laws, protested against abuses
in government,
and wielded tremendous authority in
their
power to determine who should and should
not face trial.
The grand jury in California is unique
in
that its duties include investigation
of
county government as provided by statutes
passed in 1880. Only a few other states
require
grand jury investigation beyond alleged
misconduct
of public officials. The earliest reference
to the existence of a grand jury in
California
is dated 1849.
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