Ensure SC grand jury system is fair
In many counties in South Carolina, your chance of winning at least some money in the lottery is better than that of going before a county grand jury and walking away without being indicted. Greenville defense attorney Steve Henry believes the grand jury process has become “a joke.” He and some other defense attorneys think it’s time for the Legislature to level the playing field in the closed proceedings that determine whether a defendant will be indicted and therefore face a trial on criminal charges.
Since 2011, Greenville County grand juries have returned true bills 99.9 percent of the time on more than 18,700 indictments. Greenville County is not unique in this area; in fact, in most places in South Carolina grand juries indict almost all of the people who come before them.
One significant way to bring about a more level playing field and ensure transparency is to record the proceedings of grand juries. Even when the information is not made public — and that often is the case — the very nature of having these closed proceedings recorded can increase confidence in the fairness of the process.
Some criminal defense lawyers in South Carolina are pushing to have county grand jury proceedings recorded.
“The Legislature could fix this in a heartbeat,” Henry says. “All they would have to do is require grand jury transcripts or minutes. It would take one time — one time — of having this process recorded, and this would be over.”
Grand juries operate outside of the public eye for sound reasons. On occasion, a grand jury will conduct a months-long investigation before an indictment is brought, and the closed proceedings help safeguard information and keep the target of the investigation from changing behavior or trying to destroy evidence. Sometimes that investigation doesn’t produce any solid evidence of a crime and the case is closed. The secret nature of this work can protect the reputation of innocent people.
The grand jury also serves as a speed bump on the road from the arrest of someone on a criminal charge to the trial in an open courtroom. The proceedings are designed to require the prosecutor to present some evidence that a crime has been committed before taking a case to trial. The process is designed to protect an innocent person from unjust accusations.
In 2014, a Charleston County grand jury reviewed 6,366 indictments and returned only seven “no bills,” meaning jurors didn’t find sufficient evidence to indict. In Florence County, the grand jury considered 1,285 indictments in 2014 and returned only one “no bill.”
The Oregon Legislature spent time earlier this year considering a bill to allow grand jury proceedings to be recorded as they are in about 30 other states. Some of the same arguments were used there that are heard in South Carolina: Namely, having recorded testimony allows defense lawyers to identify mistakes or abuse. In that state, the bill that was under consideration would have required a record of all grand jury proceedings except for deliberations and voting, according to The Oregonian newspaper.
Critics of the Oregon bill said the legislation could harm victims, make it less likely that victims or witnesses would come forward, and create a huge cost for taxpayers.
Plus, critics noted that despite the claim that the recordings would be private for the most part and have limited use, they could end up in the public domain.
In Greenville, the Solicitor’s Office says it “has every confidence that the (Circuit) Court and the Clerk of Court operate the grand jury process in accordance with all constitutional and state statutory requirements, and with due regard to the rights of all defendants having their charges presented to the grand jury.”
Having a transcript or recording of a grand jury proceeding would allow a defense attorney to challenge an indictment or grand jury process by building evidence of abuse or irregularity if there is reason to believe such occurred.
The Legislature should reopen the debate about recording grand-jury testimony in South Carolina.
What do you think?
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This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Ensure SC grand jury system is fair."