Representative Patty Stinson recently gave an interview on House Bill 1417, which she plans to reintroduce next year. The Bill would allow defendants to present information during a grand jury proceeding. Currently grand juries in Georgia only hear information from the prosecution before deciding whether or not to move a case along.
Stinson told how she first became aware of the situation; “what piqued my interest is I was aware of a situation in the district last summer of a young man that was arrested and his case was taken before the grand jury and his family reached out to me, asking some questions.”
Stinson told how as she did more research, she realized there was no opportunity for them to present their side while the grand jury decided whether to move the case forward. Stinson recounted being told; “they can tell their side during the trial period.”
Stinson expressed concerns. “Is there a way that this can be handled without going to trial?” Stinson note that a lot of families in House District 150 cannot afford an attorney. “I just felt a lot of cases could have been eliminated without going to trial, and maybe our prison system would not be so overcrowded had some of these cases been taken care of with the grand jury.”
Stinson recounted hearing stories from people serving on the grand jury, and how hearing from only the prosecution shaped their perspective. She expressed concerns for the defendant. “Their life is going to be deeply changed by your decision to move their case along, and you’re going to be doing this based on only the information you’re getting from the prosecution.”
Stinson addressed detractors. “Those that are pushing back on my legislation, their response is, it’s too time consuming, the courts are already backed up.” However, Stinson was adamant that at least a representative of the defendant be able to state their case; “give the grand jury an opportunity to hear both sides.”
She reiterated the stakes, stating; “they are making a decision on somebody’s life that’s going to greatly impact that person, that person’s family, that person’s future, work future, for years to come.”
District Attorney Lewis Lamb shared his views of House Bill 1417. “I’m 100% opposed to this bill as a District Attorney. Actually I’d be opposed to it as a citizen.”
He mentioned several facets of the bill that he drew issue with. “It basically flies in the face of 300 years plus years of. . .criminal law practice in the U.S. and before that in England.”
Lamb stated that secrecy was considered an important part of grand jury proceedings. He stated that in some cases, grand juries could be considering an inditement against someone who has not been arrested. “It presents opportunities or possibilities of them attempting to interfere with witnesses in some way, it creates a possibility of flight, it creates the possibility of danger to law enforcement agencies that are attempting to take someone into custody afterwards on a grand jury indictment.”
Lamb stated that a grand jury may review 45 to 55 cases a day in Sumter County. He stated that if House Bill 1417 was passed, the process would lengthen. “It [would] take two months to present those cases to the grand jury.” He estimated he would need four times as many lawyers, and twice the number of investigators.
When asked if House Bill 1417 would help in cases where the defendant might be able to walk free if they had a chance to present evidence, Lamb stated there were other opportunities to present evidence. “Even though you’re not entitled to a committal hearing or a preliminary hearing after an indictment, most of the judges around here, you know, in my circuit at least, most of the judges will still, are still, willing to hear evidence like in connection with the bond.”
When asked if this would still pose issues for those who cannot afford bond, Lamb stated that judges had the option to grant a recognizance bond. He gave a judge’s hypothetical conclusion if they found the evidence lacking, stating they could conclude; “I don’t think the state’s evidence is very strong, and so I’m going to grant a recognizance bond and just let them out of jail without them having to post any bond at all.”
He also mentioned that defendants who believed the evidence would acquit them could file a demand for trial. “A demand for trial means I have to try that defendant within either that term of court or the next term of court.”
Lamb mentioned that the length of a term depended on the County, stating that in Sumter County terms are three months.
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