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Why Grand Juries Work for the Defenseby Michael ColemanIt’s time to get over your fear of sending your client into the Grand Jury to testify in his/her own behalf. Some of us in New York have had an active practice in this area for the past 25 years with rather remarkable results. Our “blow-out” rate has consistently been about 50% (significantly higher than our acquitted rate at trial). The factors contributing to this success are 1.) the district attorney usually only puts in a stripped down case, 2.) our clients have the freedom to say whatever they want (even things that would be inadmissible at trial), and 3.) Grand Jurors rarely hear the other side of the story and often indicting every other case before them. It gives them the chance to stop being a rubber-stamp and do the “fair” thing in one case out of the many they hear. There are many factors which go into the decision to put him/her in but if your client has a story to tell, is fairly verbal and especially if they have made a statement already to the police, consider this as a real option. It may be their only chance to get their story out and if they are incarcerated they get to go home months sooner than if they waited for trial. Michael Coleman is Executive Director of New York County Defender Services. Guest ArticlesNLADA is now accepting articles for ACCD Executive Summary. If you have an article you would like to appear in an upcoming edition, please contact Jon Mosher at j.mosher@nlada.org. |
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© Copyright, 2011
National Legal Aid & Defender Association,
1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20036
(Phone) 202.452.0620 | (Fax) 202.872.1031 |
info@nlada.org
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