Disturbingly, the grand jury's increasing use as a criminal-indictment assembly line has distracted it from its most important job. In California, the grand jury serves three functions. On the criminal side, it hears testimony in secret and decides whether the evidence is sufficient to warrant a felony indictment. Last, if the grand jury determines that a public official has behaved with malfeasance or otherwise abused his or her office, it has the power to direct that the official stand trial on why he or she should not be removed from office. Invariably, the grand jury's annual report analyzing county government and recommending changes in its administration is dead on arrival at the Board of Supervisors.
Department heads use the report as a doily for coffee cups and donuts.
The judges who appoint the grand jurors mostly shelve their reports, unread. No wonder that L.A. grand juries have neither the independence nor stamina to defy their advisors. The federal Constitution requires that both the grand jury and trial juries be drawn from a cross- section of the community. Unlike trial jurors, who are drawn from a pool of registered voters and DMV licensees, grand jurors are personally selected by the county's 239 Superior Court judges. Not surprisingly, some folks get overlooked when the invitations go out.