How is a preliminary hearing different from a grand jury?

Answer 1

Although grand juries and trial juries are both made up of average people who were called for jury duty, they serve entirely different purposes. A grand jury helps determine whether charges should be brought against a suspect, while a trial jury renders a verdict at the criminal trial itself. Put differently, a grand jury hands down an indictment at the beginning of a case, while a trial jury decides guilt or innocence at the very end (not counting the appeal process).

Answer 2

Although the systems are different, the results of each are basically the same. Not all states use the Grand Jury system and in those that do not the Preliminary Hearing takes its place. In a grand jury system, the prosecutor presents the facts of the case to a panel of grand jurors who then decide whether there is probable cause to charge the defendant - and then they issue ("hand down") an indictment of the defendant. In a Preliminary Hearing, the same information is presented to a judge who decides whether probable cause exists to sustain the charge against the defendant.

Answer 3

Charges have been brought forth by a grand jury are considered an indictment. This means that the majority of the grand jurors voted to bring charges against the defendant. Normally the charges and some of the evidence were brought before the grand jurors in order for them to make that decision. On the other hand, charges that were simply filed by the prosecutor are charges brought forth by information. In many states the defendant has the right to a preliminary hearing to force the prosecutor to present the evidence before a grand jury, which can decide for themselves whether to bring charges against the defendant. If the defendant exercises this right and the grand jury decides there is not enough evidence to bring forth charges, the defendant walks out.

Answer 4

the grand jury is a higher and more advansed jury.

Answer 5

homeschool. XDD im looking for this too lol

Answer 6

the grand jury is higher then the rest.

Answer 7

Yes