Cuyahoga County has seated a new set of grand juries. This is a panel of people who decide in private whether a person should face charges. ideastream’s Nick Castele reports one state senator wants to change the process.
In Ohio, prosecutors alone present evidence to grand juries, which decide by supermajority vote whether to indict a defendant on criminal charges. The process—by law—happens behind closed doors.
It has received more attention recently after grand juries chose not to indict police officers in high profile cases in Ferguson, Missouri and New York.
Democratic State Sen. Sandra Williams of Cleveland says grand juries should be more open—or replaced by a public preliminary hearing in front of a judge.
Williams talked about her proposal on 90.3’s The Sound of Ideas.
“And this all evolved because of the use of excessive force when it came to minorities and low income people when they face the criminal justice system,” Williams said. “And what we’re simply actually asking for is an opportunity to actually improve the transparency in these types of cases.”
But John Murphy with the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association said grand juries have a long history in the state, and the public should be careful about doing away with them.
“We shouldn’t hastily abandon that process,” Murphy said on the show. “It’s intended mainly to be a buffer between the prosecutor and those persons being investigated for potential criminal conduct.”
A recent report by Gov. John Kasich’s task force on police-community relations, which included Sen. Williams, recommended taking a second look at grand juries. Ohio’s chief justice recently wrote that any change to the process would require a state constitutional amendment.
