25 Nov Dan on Secretive Grand Jury Process

Dan joined the Robin Roberts at Good Morning America on Tuesday, November 25th to discuss the secretive grand jury process and what it entails. The grand jury in Ferguson reached a decision the night before not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Rather than a preliminary hearing, this case was brought to a grand jury to decide whether or not it should be brought to trial. Says Dan, “Grand juries are much more secretive, much more casual, they only need 9 out of 12 to have the case move forward. Evidence that wouldn’t typically be admitted in a trial can be admitted in front of a grand jury. Typically, you have a couple of detectives walk in, the prosecutor asks for a charge, and they get it. This was more akin to a jury meaning they got all the evidence to evaluate. Still no cross-examination of witnesses, et cetera, but more like a typical jury trial in the amount of evidence that these grand jurors got to evaluate.” Watch the full clip here.