Mandatory Or Optional Use of the Grand Jury

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

I. Mandatory or optional use of the grand jury

A. Federal felony charges require a grand jury indictment

The Fifth Amendment requires federal felony charges, i.e., capital offenses and other infamous crimes, be brought by grand jury indictment, called a "true bill." Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(a) defines an infamous crime as one punishable by death or by more than one year in prison. In Ex parte Wilson, 114 U.S. 417 (1885), the Supreme Court stated that, if the crime is an infamous crime under the Fifth Amendment...