An indictment, whether or not it’s handed up in federal or state courtroom, is a proper accusation — not a conviction — and it’s among the many first strikes a prosecutor could make to carry a case to trial.
When an individual is indicted in a felony courtroom within the United States, it signifies that a grand jury composed of residents chosen at random believed there was sufficient proof to cost that individual with against the law. Such panels, usually convened by judges on the request of prosecutors, meet for weeks, and might hear proof in a wide range of instances. The decide just isn’t current throughout grand jury proceedings after the jurors are chosen, and jurors are in a position to ask the witnesses questions.
Unlike a felony trial, the place a jury has to achieve a unanimous verdict, a grand jury can challenge an indictment with a easy majority.
Grand jurors hear proof and testimony solely from prosecutors and the witnesses that they select to current. They don’t hear from the protection or often from the individual accused, not like in a felony trial the place proceedings are adversarial.
That one-sided association usually leads protection legal professionals to attenuate indictments and argue that prosecutors can simply persuade jurors to indict.
After an indictment is unsealed, prosecutors share their proof with protection attorneys, who usually ask a decide to dismiss the case on varied authorized grounds.
It can take months for a case to go to trial, as each side argue over varied parts of the continuing, together with what proof may be introduced to a jury.
Source: www.nytimes.com