Judge seeks to demystify grand jury process

By Peter H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Although grand jury proceedings are secret, the judge who will preside over the Mahoning County grand jury this fall wants to demystify the role of the grand jury and the rules under which it functions.

Judge Shirley J. Christian of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will oversee the grand jury during its four-month term that begins Sept. 1, previously oversaw the grand jury during the first four months of 2015.

She said some of the changes she plans to make consist of “educational and outreach” efforts, which an Ohio Supreme Court task force said help to increase public confidence in the grand jury process.

“As I get out and meet the public, it becomes apparent to me that there is a misunderstanding of the role of the grand jury,” she observed.

She said she began preparing for these changes immediately after her first term of overseeing the grand jury last year.

To educate the public, she will continue to give presentations to local service organizations, such as Kiwanis and Rotary, and other community groups concerning the grand jury process, she said.

To reinforce her oral instructions to the grand jury, she plans to issue those instructions and other orientation information to grand jurors in a written handbook to enable them to refer to those items at later times during their term of service.

Judge Christian said she also plans to use any grand jury orientation video the Ohio Supreme Court produces and make it available to the public library for patrons to borrow and for posting on the library’s website.

“I don’t have any problem with that at all,” Nicholas Modarelli, chief assistant county prosecutor, said of Judge Christian’s education and outreach plans and her encouragement of grand jury independence.

“The more people know about how things work, I think the better it is because there is always this haze over a grand jury because it is a secret proceeding,” he said.

“I don’t see a problem with reducing it to writing,” he said of basic grand jury process information.

Judge Christian’s plan is consistent with some of the recommendations in a recently released report from the 18-member Ohio Supreme Court grand jury task force.

The state’s top court is accepting public comments on the task force report through Aug. 31. Comments should be sent to John Van Norman, policy and research counsel, Ohio Supreme Court, 65 S. Front St., seventh floor, Columbus, OH 43215, or emailed to legpol@sc.ohio.gov.

A grand jury is a group of citizens who hears accusations against people suspected of crimes and charges them by indicting them if it decides the evidence is sufficient.

The grand jury has been part of the U.S. and Ohio constitutions’ bills of rights since 1791 and 1803, respectively.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says in part: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,” except in cases arising in the military “in time of war or public danger.”

Although the grand jury hears cases only from prosecutors and their witnesses, Judge Christian said she encourages grand jury independence and believes grand jurors should know that they may ask questions that occur to them as cases are presented to them.

For example, she said grand jurors should know that they may ask prosecutors about the full range of charges they may consider in a particular case, such as various murder and manslaughter options that may apply in a homicide.

“Their role is to stand between the government and the accused. They’re supposed to be protecting the rights of the people,” she said.

“Depending on the type of case, they get very inquisitive, and the detective, or whatever witness is there, whether it’s a doctor or investigator, or whoever, I’ve had grand jurors that really want the details before they make a well-reasoned decision whether to indict,” Modarelli said.

“We review our cases thoroughly. We don’t bring anything to the grand jury that we don’t feel is an indictable case. We don’t abuse the grand jury process,” said Modarelli, who has worked in the county prosecutor’s office for 26 years.

The Mahoning County grand jury judge assignment rotates automatically every four months among the county’s five general division common pleas judges, irrespective of judicial election cycles.

Judge Christian, a Republican appointed in October 2014, is being challenged in the Nov. 8 election by Democrat Anthony D’Apolito.