The Rachel Maddow Show (2008) S2021 E99
nikkimckelvy 0 points 2 years ago. (Contains Spoilers)

I need someone to translate this for me, b/c you’re talking to someone who doesn’t know anything at all about the criminal justice system. As I understand it, if a crime is committed, one calls the police. The police come, investigate, gather evidence, and decide if a crime has been committed, what crime was committed, and what to charge them with. The district attorney then files the charges and the police arrest the person. Sometimes a jury is called during the trial and sometimes it isn’t. I don’t know when the DA calls a jury and when they don’t.
I know the above statement isn’t accurate, but I don’t understand all of this. What is the difference between an indictment and charging someone with a crime? If the DA here has millions of pages of financial evidence against Tramp, why not just arrest him? Why is the DA calling any jury at all? This is when I need Ms. Maddows to spend half of her show explaining this stuff.

dontfwme 2 points 2 years ago. (Contains Spoilers)

A grand jury is convened in order to get more info before an actual trial.
No lawyers allowed other than the prosecutor, prosecutors ask all of the
questions. There is no defense during a grand jury. Therefore the
prosecutors receive ammo before going into a full blown trial.
This all helps the prosecutor before going to trial, so if a grand jury
indicts, then the prosecutors know they have a winnable case.
Oh and also no objections can be raised during a grand jury.

The above comment should not be taken as truth, it is simply my
opinion as I understand it.