Evening star., 1952-03-05
Rackets Study Strikes
Snag on Question Of
Juries' Jurisdiction
BY the Assoeioied Press

Attorney General McGrath'S
national racketeering survey has
run into some difficulties as a
result of questions raised by Fed
eral Judges on how far Federal
jurieS can legally go.
Specifically, it is reported that
some judges have doubts that a
jury convened under United States
authority can inquire into strictly
local offenses.
Others are concerned about pos
Sible runaway juries" which may
go far af1eld in any blanket in
quiry such as that proposed into
general crime conditions.
Some judges want to know just
what and how much Of tradition
ally secret grand jury proceedings
may be made public in the form
of "presentments," or general
statements of conditions.
PreSentmentS in Doubt.
PreSentments are sometimes
made by juries by way of a public
report on indicated criminal ac-
tivity on which there is insufii-
cient evidence for indictments.
Legal authorities say there is no
provision in the law for the pre-
sentiment" but that the courts
under which the juries function
usually permit them to be filed,
provided they do not name the
persons the jury suspects but is
unable to indict.
Mr.. McGrath launched the
Nationwide inquiry into organ
lied crime and racketeering ac-
tivities early in January, as al
followup to the work of the Senate
Crime Investigating Committee.
He called for jury sessions I'M
each of the SO Federal judicial
districts, including the District of
Columbia. The jury here has
been at work several weeks.
No Difficulties Here.
No difficulties are being en-
countered by the grand jury here,
United States Attorney Charles M !
1relan said today.
Our jury investigation seems to
be working very smoothly, and
with the cooperation of the
court" Mr.. Irelan declared. "And
we are getting somewhere, with
indictments in the offing in two
weeks or less"
He explained that while there
could be a question in other juris-
dictions as to the power of a
Federal grand jury to look into
purely local crimes and conditions,
this situation does not exist in
the District.
Here, the prosecutor explained,
most of the serious local offenses
are crimes against the Federal
Government as well as the munich
pality. Consequently, while an
ordinary gambling case, for ex-
ample, would be handled by State
authorities elsewhere, the Federal
arm of the law takes Jurisdiction
here. he said.
Mr.. McGrath said the objective
of the grand jurieS were to
examine law enforcement Of
ficialS and known underworld :
characters, to return indictments
where warranted and to provide
the Justice Department with data
on local crime conditions in order
to provide "a comprehensive pic
ture of the overall situation in
the United States"
Wanted Annual Inquiry.
Mr.. McGrath, who said the sur
vey should be an annual affair,
asked the district attorneys to get
juries organized as early in 1852
as possible.
A check today showed that
juries have been convened or
called in only about half of the
90 districts. Transcripts of pro-
ceedings have been received here
from only three.
The program hit a snag last
week at Los Angeles, when Fed
eral Judge Leon r. Yankwich dis
missed one such jury. originally
assembled as a regular panel and
later recalled by the district at
torney for the rackets investiga-
tion.
Judge Yankwlch. chief judge
for his district, challenged the
session on grounds that it had
been put to work by the district