Grand Juries

In North Carolina, the grand jury is used as a regular part of the charging process.  The district attorney will prepare an indictment (charging instrument) and present this to the grand jury for its consideration.  The district  attorney selects the witnesses to be heard by the grand jury. The charging grand jury determines probable cause to prosecute by returning the bill of indictment submitted by the prosecutor as a true bill.  The information the grand jury hears can be based on hearsay, double hearsay, conclusions based on hearsay and speculation.  The grand jury does not hear from the person charged nor their side of the case.  This is what it means when people say “even a ham sandwich can be indicted.”