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Let me tell you about Matthew. He got indicted by a grand jury in Cherokee County for Rape. His lawyer tried to get the grand jury transcript to see what witnesses said before trial. You know what they found? Nothing. No transcript. No recording. No record at all of what happened in that room.

Just 23 regular people who decided Matthew should face life in prison, and absolutely no way to know what they heard or how they heard it.

Welcome to Georgia’s grand jury system—where some of the most important decisions in criminal justice happen behind closed doors with no record of what went down.

What the Heck Is a Grand Jury?

Think of a grand jury as the gatekeeper for serious criminal charges. Before prosecutors can take you to trial for most felonies in Georgia, they have to convince a grand jury there’s enough evidence to proceed.

It’s not a trial jury that decides guilty or not guilty. It’s 16 to 23 regular citizens who just decide: “Yeah, this case should move forward” or “Nah, this is garbage.”

Sounds reasonable, right? It would be, if we knew what actually happened in there.

The Law: What Georgia Says About Grand Juries

Georgia’s grand jury rules are spelled out in O.C.G.A. Title 15, Chapter 12. Here’s the basics:

• O.C.G.A. § 15-12-61: Says who can serve (basically any qualified voter)
• O.C.G.A. § 15-12-71: Lists what they can do (investigate crimes, hear evidence)
• O.C.G.A. § 15-12-67: Makes them swear to keep everything secret

Notice what’s missing? Any requirement to actually record what happens.

How It Actually Works (Or Doesn’t)

The Secret Meeting

Grand juries meet in secret. Just the prosecutor, witnesses, and the jurors. No defense attorney. No judge. No defendant (unless they specifically ask to testify, which is usually a terrible idea).

The prosecutor shows up with their evidence—police reports, witness testimony, maybe some photos or documents. They tell their story. Then the grand jury votes.

Need 12 out of 16-23 people to agree, and boom—you’re indicted.  Even if 10 people vote not to indict, you still get indicted!

What You Can’t Do

If you’re the person they’re investigating, you have basically no rights in the grand jury:

• Can’t be there when witnesses testify
• Can’t cross-examine anybody
• Can’t present your side of the story
• Can’t have your lawyer in the room
• Can’t even find out what they said about you (remember, there is no transcript!)

The Vote

After hearing whatever the prosecutor wants them to hear, the grand jury kicks everyone out and votes. If 12 people think there’s probable cause, you get indicted. If not, your case goes away..

Simple, right? Except nobody knows what evidence actually convinced them.

The Court Reporter Problem: Georgia’s Blind Spot

Here’s the kicker—and this will blow your mind if you’ve never thought about it before.

There’s no court reporter in Georgia grand jury rooms.

None. Zero. Zilch.

Well, okay fine–there CAN be a court reporter, but only at the prosecutor’s request!  And that won’t ever happen.  Ask yourself WHY a prosecutor wouldn’t want a court reporter at a grand jury hearing?

Every other important legal proceeding in Georgia has someone typing down every word that gets said. Trials, hearings, depositions, even traffic court—somebody’s making a record.

But grand juries? Nope. Whatever happens in there might as well have happened in a black hole in space.

Why No Court Reporter? The Excuses

When you ask why there’s no record, you get these responses:

“It’s Secret!”

Yeah, so are lots of things that still get recorded. We have hearings all the time that are secret, yet transcripts exist and are sealed.

“It Costs Too Much!”

Really? We’re talking about decisions that can send people to prison for life, and Georgia’s worried about paying a court reporter $200 a day?

“It’s Always Been This Way!”

So was segregation, male-only voting, and English law. “We’ve always done it this way” is the weakest argument in the world.

“It Would Change the Atmosphere”

Oh no, witnesses might be more careful about lying under oath if they knew someone was writing it down. What a tragedy.

Why This Is Completely Screwed Up

The lack of any record creates real problems for real people:

Zero Accountability

Prosecutors can say whatever they want to grand jurors. Misstate the law, exaggerate evidence, present stuff that would never be allowed at trial—who’s gonna know?

I’ve heard stories (that can never be proven, obviously) of prosecutors telling grand juries things like “the defendant has a long criminal history” when they’re talking about someone’s first offense. Can’t prove it happened because there’s no record.

No Way to Appeal

If something goes wrong in the grand jury, too bad. Can’t appeal what you can’t prove happened.

Say a prosecutor presents evidence they know is false, or a key witness commits perjury. At trial, you could use the transcript to prove it. With grand juries? Good luck.

Witness Problems

Sometimes witnesses lie to grand juries, then tell a different story at trial. Without a transcript, it’s nearly impossible to prove they committed perjury in the grand jury.

Other times, witnesses claim they were threatened or coerced before testifying. How do you investigate that when there’s no record of what they actually said?

Discovery Nightmares

Defense lawyers sometimes need grand jury materials to prepare for trial. When there’s no transcript, defendants get less information about the case against them.

Real People, Real Problems

This isn’t some theoretical issue. Here’s what happens:

Case Gets Dismissed: Sometimes charges get dropped because the prosecution’s case falls apart. But if the grand jury heard bogus evidence to get the indictment, there’s no way to hold anyone accountable.

Witnesses Flip: A witness tells the grand jury one thing, then changes their story at trial. Defense wants to impeach them with their previous testimony, but there’s no previous testimony to use.

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Lawyers file complaints claiming prosecutors broke the rules in grand jury proceedings. But with no record, these complaints go nowhere.

Why Other Places Do It Right

Federal Courts

Federal grand juries almost always have court reporters. Somehow, the FBI’s cases don’t become less secret because someone’s writing down the testimony.

Other States

Many states require recording or court reporters in grand jury proceedings. Their criminal justice systems haven’t collapsed.

Technology Exists

We have secure digital recording. We have encrypted transcripts. The technology to maintain secrecy while keeping records has existed for decades.

What Georgia Should Do

Fix this mess. Here’s how:

Require Court Reporters

Every grand jury proceeding should have a certified court reporter creating a verbatim record.

Keep It Sealed

The transcript stays confidential unless a judge orders otherwise. Same secrecy rules, but now there’s actually a record if something goes wrong.

Use Modern Technology

Digital recording as backup, secure storage, limited access—all the tools exist to do this right.

Follow the Federal Model

If it works for federal cases, it can work for state cases.

The Bottom Line

Think about this: Georgia trusts grand juries to make decisions that can destroy people’s lives, send them to prison for decades, or put them on death row.

But the state doesn’t trust anyone enough to write down what actually happened in the room where these decisions get made.

That’s insane.

Every other part of our court system recognizes that sunlight is the best disinfectant, even when that sunlight comes later through sealed records and confidential review.

But grand juries operate in complete darkness.

Matthew, the guy I mentioned at the beginning? His case eventually fell apart at trial when witnesses admitted they’d lied to police. But there was no way to find out if they’d lied to the grand jury too, because nobody wrote down what they said there.

How many other people are sitting in prison because a grand jury heard lies, and there’s no record to prove it?

Don’t Accept “That’s Just How It Is”

Georgia’s grand jury system isn’t broken by accident. It’s broken by design—or at least by stubborn refusal to fix obvious problems.

Other states figured this out. The federal government figured this out. Georgia can figure it out too.

Until then, just remember: some of the most important decisions in Georgia’s criminal justice system happen in rooms where nobody’s writing anything down.

And if you think that’s fine, you’ve never been on the wrong end of it.