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Originally Posted by paulskinsfan
Im gonna post one more time on this topic and then I quit, cause we are here to discuss the Skins, not the law. Ramseyfan you are wrong. Every single felony charge, is decided upon by a grand jury, regardless of if its a murder, drug possession, forgery, whatever. Now it may be different in FLA, but in WVA, VA, Colorado, California, MOST STATES, a grand jury is impaneled every term to hand down indictments on ALL felony charges. The grand jury here handed down 12 indictments last term for meth lab charges alone.
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While I am not intimately familiar with the particulars of West Virginia law, I'm sorry but you, paulskinsfan, are actually the one that is wrong here. Ramseyfan is right. The main purpose of a grand jury is to act as an investigation for the prosecution. It becomes particularly useful when a police investigation is not sufficient to gather evidence, because the grand jury has a subpoena power that the police do not have. For this reason, the types of cases that hinge on documentary evidence (i.e. corruption, other white collar crimes) are typically best suited for grand jury testimony. To say that "every single felony charge, is decided upon by a grand jury" is just flat wrong in any jurisdiction I've seen. There is no constitutional right to a grand jury and I'm aware of no state that requires the prosecution to submit a case to the grand jury before filing charges and proceeding with prosecution.
I know it's not in our nature to admit when we are wrong, but I think everyone interested in this thread should know that Ramseyfan got it right.
ps. If you'd like my bar ID #, I too will be happy to provide it.