The grand jury and the
petit jury have entirely different purposes and functions.
41) If a defendant never had a chance at a representative jury, then the process of empaneling a
petit jury from an underrepresentative group will likely raise doubts in the minds of the accused and the public about the fairness of the proceedings.
See also supra note 101 (describing the peremptory challenges in
petit jury selection).
239) Sullivan & Nachman, supra note 30, at 1053 ("[T]he grand jury gives the prosecutor a feel for how the case will appear to a
petit jury.
selection at the
petit jury stage is incompatible with Batson; thus, the
Not surprisingly, the conceptualization of the jury that surfaced in the American colonies bore a striking resemblance to the
petit jury described by English treatises, upon which the Framers heavily relied.
Similarly, Tory Roger North defended the "probable cause" doctrine in his book Examen, writing that if the evidence before the grand jury "be lawful and full," it must return the indictment and leave it to the
petit jury to judge the circumstances and the credibility of the witnesses.
a greater cross-section of the community than the
petit jury.
Litigants do not have the opportunity to select their most preferred jurors from the jury venire in determining the
petit jury that hears their case, and instead have only a negative right to challenge their least preferred jurors.
FREQUENTLY USED WORDS AND PHRASES (No Change) GRAND JURY AND
PETIT JURY DISTINGUISHED
6) These options, however, applied only to
petit jury trials, not to grand jury proceedings, and it was in this latter context that Bushell's Case would first command public attention.
The law has always presumed that the
petit jury is also one of those governmental institutions that operates better in the dark.
