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Grand Juries in the
News
Using a Grand Jury to Investigate the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks,
Enron Investigations,
John Walker Grand Jury,
Al Qaeda-Related
Terrorism Indictments, Grand Jury Abuse,
Other Grand Jury News,
Obstructing a Grand Jury
Investigation, First World
Trade Center Bombing ,
The Role
Grand Juries Play in Investigating Terrorism
Using a Grand Jury to Investigate the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
An article by Susan Brenner and Lori Shaw answering
many questions about using a grand jury to investigate the attacks of
September 11. Click Here
An article by Susan Brenner and Lori Shaw discussing the role of a grand jury
in investigating terrorism.
Click Here
Enron
Investigations
If
the Enron execs were to get a subpoena from a grand jury, could they plead
the fifth amendment like they're doing now, or would they have to answer?
If they have to answer, why doesn't the government stop wasting time and
send this to a grand jury?
John Walker
Grand Jury:
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On February 5, a federal grand jury indicted John
Walker Lindh, the “American Taliban,” for conspiring with Taliban and Al
Qaeda forces to kill his fellow Americans. See, e.g., Lindh
Indicted,
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/walker020205.html
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The government apparently sought the indictment to
avoid a preliminary hearing on the complaint against Lindh; the government
would have had to reveal its evidence against Lindh at a preliminary
hearing, but the evidence heard by a grand jury remains secret.
See, e.g., New Charges for “American Taliban,”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/682285.asp
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The Lindh indictment is available here:
http://foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,44845,00.html
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Though the grand jury did not charge Lindh with
treason, a federal prosecutor commented that the grand jury could still
return a superseding indictment that would contain a treason charge, if
the evidence warrants such an indictment. See, e.g., New Charges
for “American Taliban,”
http://www.msnbc.com/news/682285.asp
Al Qaeda-Related Terrorism
Indictments:
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United States District Court – Southern
District of New York, Indictment (98 Cr. 1023), United States v. Usama
Bin Laden, et al. (indictment of Al Qaeda members for the 1993
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya), http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/eastafrica/indictment.pdf
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United States District Court – Eastern
District of Virginia, Indictment, United States, v. Zacarias Moussaoui
(indictment of Moussaoui for conspiring with other Al Qaeda members to
“kill and maim persons within the United States), http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/moussaouiindictment.htm
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United States District Court – District of
Massachusetts, Indictment (Cr. 02-10013-WGY), United States v. Richard
Colvin Reid (indictment of Richard Reid for attempting, on behalf of
Al Qaeda, to set off shoe bombs on board an American Airlines flight
from Paris to Miami), http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/reidindictment.pdf
Grand Jury Abuse:
Other Grand Jury News:
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Investigatory
Grand Jury Report, Re: Application
No. 98-01 (January 12, 2000), This is the report issued by Judge George Thim, who was appointed
a one-man grand juror investigate the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.
Michael Skakel was eventually charged for the murder.
See http://marthamoxley.com/.
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Grand
jury testimony in Alger Hiss spy case from the 1940’s,
http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/hiss/file.html
Obstructing a Grand
Jury Investigation
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On February 28, 2002, in United
States v. Schwarz, (Docket Nos. 00-1479, 00-1483 & 00-1515),
http://csmail.law.pace.edu/lawlib/legal/us-legal/judiciary/second-circuit/test3/00-1479.opn.html,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the convictions
of three New York police officers for conspiring to obstruct justice in
connection with the investigation of the 1997 assault on Abner Louima in a
Brooklyn police station.
The convictions were based on the
proposition that the officers had entered into an agreement to obstruct
justice by lying to federal agents investigating the assault in order to
interfere with a grand jury investigation into the assault. Merely lying
to the federal agents would not be enough to establish either conspiracy
to obstruct justice or an obstruction of justice under 18 U.S. Code §
1503, which is the statute the conspiracy charge was based upon. The
Second Circuit, following the Supreme Court’s lead in United States v.
Aguilar, 515 U.S. 593 (1995),
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-270.ZO.html, held that the
convictions could not stand because the evidence was insufficient to prove
that any or all of the officers had intended to obstruct a grand jury
investigation. In Aguilar, a federal judge who had lied to federal
agents investigating whether he improperly disclosed a wiretap
authorization was charged with obstructing justice under 18 U.S. Code §
1503. The problem was that the government did not have evidence proving
beyond a reasonable doubt that Judge Aguilar knew the false statements he
made to the agents would go to a grand jury, thereby influencing the grand
jury’s investigation and obstructing justice. Under the statute, to be
guilty of obstructing justice, or of conspiring to obstruct justice, a
person must act with the purpose of influencing, obstructing or impeding
the “due administration of justice.” The Supreme Court has held that an
investigation by federal agents does not constitute the “administration of
justice” under the statute; there must be a grand jury proceeding or a
court proceeding for the statute to apply.
First
World Trade Center Bombing
Indictment against Lynne Stewart, a defense attorney for Sheik
Rahman, who was convicted for his role in the first World Trade Center
bombing. The indictment, which also includes several other defendants, can
be found online at:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/abdelrahman1.shtml
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