HOW CAN THE GRAND JURY REGAIN ITS POWER?
by Ron Branson, ©2013, National JAIL4Judges Commander-In-Chief
(May 16, 2013) — Herein is a fatal flaw by omission within our Constitution, and that is the lack of independent People-power to enforce its provisions. The original intent of our Grand Jury system was for the People themselves to have their own inherent power to bring government officials before themselves in judgment, and to hold such accountable. But we do not have that today. The People have allowed their “public servants” to sweet-talk them into relinquishing their power to the very ones whom the Grand Jury is established to be the People’s check against government corruption.
I just recently received an email proposing that we should “Indict” all these corrupt government officials. I responded, asking, “How are we the People going to Indict such officials?” The problem is that the government has claimed sole control over our Grand Juries. We the People are being barred by government from presenting our grievances to Grand Juries. What’s more, the judges pick whom they want to serve on the Grand Juries, and the government prosecutor takes these Grand Jurors under their wings, shelters them, and spoon-feeds them only what they want to be concerned with. The Grand Juries have become their watchdog pets. This cannot be! And even should such a Grand Jury presume to act independent of the government prosecutor, the government prosecutor has the sole discretion on whether he shall commence a prosecution of the Indicted party. This presents a great conflict especially when the Indicted party is a government official.
Then, even should the prosecutor decide to prosecute the government official, the judge may choose to cancel such Grand Jury indictment, and free such government official from prosecution. And what if such government official be a judge? (In Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Judge George W. Trammell was exposed in the July 23, 1997 L.A. Times Newspaper. Trammell assured a defendant’s wife before him that he would go easy on sentencing her husband if she would agree to sleep with him. She did sleep with him, but she squealed about the deal, and when this criminal plot hit news, even then did the county prosecutor blatantly refused to prosecute Judge Trammell.) But where were all the People in this? In the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution it says, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.”
In the below story the Grand Jury did pass down an Indictment on the perpetrator of an infamous crime, to wit, the killing an unarmed man, but because of the judge’s decision to overturn the Grand Jury, this criminal Indictment of a Grand Jury is going nowhere. What we are experiencing is exactly what our Founding Fathers experienced as they described within our Declaration of Independence, to wit, “For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment from any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states.”
In April of 1995 this author designed and created a People’s Initiative to restore the power of the Grand Juries which our Founding Fathers originally intended by JAIL4Judges, and is found at http://www.jail4judges.org/State_Chapters/ca/CA_Initiative.html. It will only be through this means will this country regain the People’s inherent power to bring corrupt government officials before themselves in judgment. The People will then be able to do an end run around corrupt government prosecutors and corrupt judges. Until such time, we shall only hear of feudal “talk” of accountability!
Ron Branson
VictoryUSA@jail4judges.org
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/nypd-officer-teenager-bronx-ramarley-graham
Yet another story that speaks to the lack of initiative on the part of We the People. “We the People in order to create a more perfect Union . . . ” are by definition responsible for the protection and preservation of the Union that they created. “A Republic Madam if you can keep it”.
And of course the (re)education of the People is needed before they can reclaim the power that has been taken from them. FIJA is key, but ineffective. To educate those potential jurors of their Constitutional power is key; to block a corrupt judge from canceling their power is all important as well.
But we see the corruption from east Tennessee on this website. The judiciary and grand jury system in east Tennessee is a travesty and model of absolute corruption of the 5th Amendment. It was my opinion based on conversations with my district attorney that we did not have this system in north Georgia. However my attempts at accessing our grand jury were blocked on three different tries by this very same district attorney. The grand jury system in north Georgia models that of east Tennessee! We don’t murder and barbeque whistle blowers, as yet.
Education of potential jurors (citizens) is all important. They must know and use their power. Judges need to be exposed and not re-elected. The citizens grand jury is our venue of last resort for redress of grievances. Can the People pull this off in the face of overwhelming odds? The salvation of the Republic is at stake.
“May your chains set lightly upon you . . . “
Justice Scalia …. he is a strict follower of the Constitution and Scalia has written numerous opinions that clearly state that NOTHING in judicial or legal history has ever … ever altered the power of the citizens grand jury. Available on google.