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We headed straight to Yahoo!'s Grand Jury category where we found several web sites that addressed your question. We first visited the University of Dayton's Federal Grand Jury web site and went directly to the FAQ About Grand Juries section. The first question listed was "What is a grand jury?" The site explains that "a grand jury is a group of people that are selected and sworn in by a court, just like jurors that are chosen to serve on a trial jury." They are usually taken from the same pool of jurors as regular jurors. We also visited the American Bar Association web site, which claims to be "your most powerful source for legal information."
Once again, we found ourselves at the FAQ About the Grand Jury section. There we learned that the "primary function of the modern grand jury is to review the evidence presented by the prosecutor and determine whether there is probable cause to return an indictment." We scanned down the page and found a question that asked where the jurors come from. The answer corroborated our previous finding, stating that "In most jurisdictions, grand jurors are drawn from the same pool of potential jurors as are any other jury panels, and in the same manner." So what are the differences between a grand jury and a trial jury? The main difference is that unlike a trial jury, a grand jury doesn't decide guilt or innocence. The jurors simply
decide if there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime. A grand jury is also likely to convene less often but sit for longer periods of time than a trial jury.
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