THE Grand Jury Is Desperately in Need of Reform – Part 1

The Grand Jury Is desperately in need of Reform – Part 1

It gives me great displeasure to write this article. I had a lot of faith in our government’s justice system that protects the people from violent criminals, but in one case, whereupon researching this area, I was shocked at what they do and how they do it which is against all my principles of ethics and fair play.

The purpose of my articles is to educate you, warn those that are soon to be mistreated, and to work along with other organizations such as the NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers),

I have learned how seriously evil the grand jury is today. The grand jury is in desperate need of reform as I personally can attest to the wrongs committed through the control and manipulation by the prosecutor, granted by the grand jury, which he controls and has the final say. This is not a trial, but a strong recommendation for the defendant to be sentenced to the federal prison by the prosecutor, as the judge does the prosecutor’s bidding. Who was in charge, it seems that the judge is a mere puppet.

When an article is written, one of the first things that comes to the readers mind is or does the information come from and what is the source. In the case of all my writings you regarding the judicial system and were pertinent facts are explained, the sources me. What I tell you is the truth. I know that this will not do any good to my reputation my good name, but I intend to inform you, educate you so that you know the real story of what happens and reforms need to be made, but they cannot be made without someone telling the truth of its idiosyncrasies

This will be a two-part series because there is so much within the history and current events and attempts at reform to explain. I was a victim of the current system and I paid a very high price for their devious tactics that have literally ruined my life physically, emotionally and mentally. So, what I say to you, is the truth, as I was there and witnessed the events.

I write this for your edification and education and if you are caught in such a situation, no matter how small the crime, you will end up with a sizable sentence if the grand jury convenes in your case, and you probably have an aggressive prosecutor trying to make a name for himself. The judge usually receives all the glory.

The grand jury was designed and existed today of dealing with violent criminals, but that has changed to where now it is used against the innocent and the numbers are growing. They are looking for another outlet to fill the vacated beds of the release drug dealer as they are in dire need of the budget received for each inmate.

I am currently 75 years old, handicapped and in ill health, and when I was 69, I was escorted by the FBI in handcuffs to the Northern Indiana Federal District Court for a crime I did not commit. The judge told me later that they will not try this case against me, because they could not win. Instead, he told me that I was going to have to plead guilty and to take a plea, under extreme duress.

The decision was made by the District Court. I had to plead guilty and to take a plea, or my punishment would be very severe. There was no decision on my part because they made it for me, and they have methods to accomplish their goal, and the grand jury is a major factor.

During my tenure in prison, I found on some of the methods that are used if you do not follow their proposals, these punishments are extreme.

I want you to remember this statement. I WAS IN JAIL WITHOUT ANY REASON BECAUSE I WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF WITH THE GRAND JURY. IT IS WITHIN MY RIGHTS TO DEFEND MYSELF, BUT THE COURT TOOK AWAY MY RIGHTS AND KEPT ME LOCKED UP IN A CELL. I WAS THEN NOT A THREAT TO THE PROSECUTOR’S PLAN, BECAUSE MY DEFENSE COULD SET ME FREE, AND THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN FOR ME.

I was told that I was suicidal, and to jail without a competent professional evaluation to verify this psychological defect. In jail, I was naked and all I had were two blankets, one is mattress for the steel plated bed and the other to service as my clothing in the only means of warmth.

I ate with my fingers and every three hours the guards would remove me from the cell and place me in the middle of the room naked for all to look at me. The guards would then go inside of the cell looking for contraband with their sticks hitting the steel plate of the bed bottom and hitting the bars which prevented me from escaping or committing suicide.

Finally, after seven days, I was seen by a psychologist and when I told my story he just laughed and laughed and called the court a bunch of idiots because I was perfectly normal. But when the news got back to the court, I was visited and told that I was to stay sequestered until after the decision of the grand jury. I knew that the grand jury was held in secrecy and was basically run by the prosecutor, but never understood the consequences, until now.

He ruled the grand jury, but I did not know its consequences, as my attorneys were all incompetent in my last attorney was the worst. It was just the puppet of the court.

Again I say: I was in jail at the assistance of prosecutor without purpose until the grand jury could be and ruled on my case. I was not able to have been my own defense which is another violation of myself right, this is only the beginning.

For the past six months, I have been doing research on the grand jury and what I have found is staggering. One day during my research I ran across the organization NACDL, or National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and I now understand how the prosecutor illegally suppressed information and made up information to the grand jury for a verdict of probable cause and I immediately joined the organization, not as an attorney, but as an investigator.

I do have a copy of the docket which shows the charges brought against me, and there were two witnesses, and the names of these witnesses is kept secret by the grand jury. The verdict of probable cause given by the grand jury gave the prosecutor unlimited power. The charges were all a lie and fabricated and these witnesses committed perjury. This unlimited power of the prosecutor the federal rights the wishes of the judge. The judge now becomes kind of a traffic cop within the court. He keeps order and the calendar and has some duties, which in my case were never completed, and these are serious infractions.

Now I understand why my initial indictment was so low it may not even meet the parameters of the sentencing guidelines, but, with the four years sentence plus lifetime parole, something was wrong, and it is the doing of the prosecutor, with the assistance of the grand jury’s decision. This was a monkey trial, and I was the monkey in the cage.

The prosecutor is in command of the grand jury and spoon-feeds them information regarding a trial and presents whatever information he considers relevant whether it be truthful or fabricated. It is supposed to be investigated and be truthful and then relayed to the grand jury. But also included were two witnesses, who in reality committed perjury. And I do believe that they belong to another department within the justice system.

Usually they have the grand jury called in on very violent crimes, but the affidavit of my crime is very small and I believe there was possible collusion between the judge and another person, because this other person told me he was speaking to the judge, and while I was in jail he embezzled funds from my company and we have this information, but no agency would assist us in this crime. They all walked away.

Within the grand jury are 12 to 23 good people more than half who must vote for the prosecutor’s ruling of probable cause, but if he’s a shy a few votes, you can render a decision I make the decision positive. I understand that verdict of probable cause gives the prosecutor unlimited power within the court. He can do virtually anything he wants. We might as well throw out the laws of Congress and the rules, because they no longer have meaning in this case.

There are certain laws that are to be obeyed as set forth by Congress during the court hearing such as mens rea and discovery and neither one of these laws was obeyed by the court, per the prosecutor’s ruling authority. The judge told me himself that he would be looking into my men’s rea.

Discovery had apparently been started by another attorney we had employed, but then disallowed by the prosecutor. I never saw what I was charged for. Only my idiotic final defense attorney who was assigned by the judge did whatever the prosecutor told him to do.

A court is supposed to be confrontational, but in this court all was agreeable, making the numbers five members of the court against me. They would’ve needed more if they allowed me to speak and participate, but I was not allowed on anything in my defense..

Mens rea refers to a person’s awareness of the fact that his conduct is criminal. The prosecution typically must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offense with a “culpable state of mind.” https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mens_rea

There is also discovery where they look into your past, your family, your employment records, your criminal activities, anything that pertains to you. I was a disappointment to them as I had no criminal record nor did I ever want to commit a crime, as that is not in my character, but to fight evil is.

We paid an attorney to look into my case, and he told us that there was no discovery. So, the prosecutor dissipated a federal law and I guess he can do so because of his overwhelming power. Something is amiss here.

In a court of law, when there is law that must be observed as they are the ones that dispense the law and to uphold the law against wall breakers, but they are not held accountable, which is a sin.

There was no discovery, of which I can look at the evidence and was not allowed. We hired an attorney to investigate if the discovery was made, and it was no discovery according to his findings and we have record of his investigation.

I learned from my readings that the grand jury is the sword and the shield responsible to protect the people as well as to impart justice upon the guilty in a fair manner. It seems to me that their fairness has gone astray for many years and this is now their common form of justice – disobey the laws that you don’t like, and make new ones that you would like anytime that you want. There is no accountability of any type.

Reality hurts, does it not? In my reading for these articles I learned that an increasing number of innocent people are being shoved into pleading guilty under the same conditions that I was. Why? As it has been said, “it is so easy to do,” and because the court has to maintain a certain conviction ratio of 98.6% or higher. The reason for this is that they have to fill the empty beds in the prisons so that they can get their budget, and to build more edifices to themselves.

Our grand jury system is in a mess. There is a reason for this. I feel the basic reason is that the prosecutor does not get the attention and the publicity that he thinks he should rightfully have and is due, while the judge receives all the attention and glory.

I recommend to my readers to read the full article as written by these wonderful authors and lawyers. And not only give you the history, but items that are in reform. They gave me the impetus to write this article basically on my own, but the facts of which they wrote gave me a stronger understanding of what went wrong, and why. It was the overbearing prosecutor drunk on steroids who secured the grand jury with a lie and the two who witnesses committed perjury, and I left the room with a sentence of four years and a lifetime of parole for their contributions.

In my next article part 2, I will be quoting a lot from their article as there are things that I could never have found without their expertise. I am grateful.

A Special Thanks to: Frederick P. Hafetz; John M. Pellettieri of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers or NACDL

You can read their article ” Time to Reform the Grand Jury” its entirety at:

https://www.nacdl.org/Champion.aspx?id=648