Morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Can you all hear me way in the ?
Excellent. I see. Thumbs up.
I'm Judge Robert Mcburney.
I want to welcome you to the courthouse.
You are here today because
you've all received summonses to
potentially serve as grand juro.
I want to talk to you a
little bit about how this
morning is going to work, and tn
we will get through this proces.
I want to tell you what grand
jury does with an understanding
what your service might entail.
I want to promise you you will l
have an opportunity to let me know if
you think it would be a conflict or a
hardship for you to serve as grand jury.
But before we get any further,
I want to acknowledge that to my left,
the media is here.
Public event.
And so they are free to be here.
They have been instructed to
not film any of you.
There will come a point during today's
proceedings where some of you will be invited
into the room to my left to follow up.
If you have a potential hardship or conflict,
when you do that, you're going o
walk that way and around and in.
And these reporters have all
been instructed not to film you.
Welcome if you want to stand in
front of a camera to do that.
But if you don't want to do tha,
your privacy will be respected.
So I'm on the camera.
The people behind me,
we're going to teach themselves
in a minute on the camera.
You will not be on the camera as
long as you don't walk this way.
If you walk that way to my left,
your right and around if
you're called into the room,
if you're following up on hardsp
or when you are selected to ser,
it may be that there's some
movement around this room.
But we'll manage that.
Any questions from the media about that?
Seeing none, they seem to understand.
Excellent.
So a grand jury is the body that
considers resentment from the
District Attorney if I get arred
for burglary. The grand jury tht
the district attorney's office
reviews the police report the fe
of that burglary and decides whr
that's a case that maybe should
move forward with prosecution.
It can't get into court.
It can't get in front of a judge
until that case is presented toa
group of 23 members of our community.
That's the grand jury.
The grand jury hears evidence fm
a police officer or investigato.
That person describes the grand jury.
Hey, this is what the case is a.
We arrested Mcburney,
who was coming out of the house.
He had an air conditioner in his hands.
It wasn't his house.
Maybe that's the evidence that's presented.
The grand jury decides whether
there's probable cause,
but there's more likely than
not something happened and you
vote to true Bill
that indictment. And if a majory
of the grand jury true bills that indictment,
it becomes a criminal case that can then
go to my courtroom or one of the other
14 judges who handles criminal cases.
Here in the Superior Court.
A grand jury hears those presentations.
You hear a bunch each day.
Burglaries, rapes, murders,
theft, etcetera. That's your ro.
Grand juries in Fulton County mt
for two months, two-month term,
and you meet twice a week,
two days a week for two months.
We are today picking 2 grand ju.
You have Grand jury A,
which will meet two days a week,
Grand jury B,
which will meet a different two days a week.
You don't know right now whether
you're going to be selected
or whether it be on A or B.
If you are selected,
all that will be shared with you
as we move through the process.
But I want you to understand
what a grand jury does.
You receive these presentations
from the prosecutor,
from the District Attorney,
and clearly it could be the attorney general,
but a prosecuting authority and
you all discuss it in private.
The prosecutors leave the room
and you vote true bill,
not true bill.
That creates the indictment
if there is a true bill.
That creates a criminal case tht
then gets randomly assigned to
one of the Superior Court judge.
You're not a trial jury.
There won't be lawyers arguing the evidence.
There won't be a judge in the r.
There won't be objections
or anything like that.
It's a presentation from the
prosecution side about whether a
case should be true bill or not.
23 of you vote.
You don't have to be there
every day for this to work.
There are also alternates.
And so in a moment I'm going tok
you a little bit about hardship.
But as you're thinking,
wait a minute, I don't.
I don't have two days every wee.
For the next two months,
I don't either.
But that doesn't mean I couldn't
serve as a grand juror because
you're unable to move in groups.
It may be that you serve have a weeklong
vacation in the middle of Augus.
You can go on that vacation.
Because an alternate could fill.
It's not an expectation that eaf
you would be present two days a week,
every week for the next two mon.
So just keep that in mind when
I turn to this question about
whether you have a hardship or .
You'll be coming here fairly of,
not always a full day.
As judges,
we receive the indictments that
get through Bill each day.
Sometimes I get those at noon,
meaning you all finished your
work by lunchtime.
Times.
I get them at 4,
meaning it was a longer day for,
but it's not a nine to five,
two days a week,
every week for the whole two mo.
But I'm not trying to sugarcoat
It is a commitment of time.
It is public service.
You've already committed some of your time.
You've been here for a couple h.
So I don't mean to make light o.
It is an imposition on you,
but it's a necessary position
because we don't simply let.
Police arrest and all of a
sudden you've got a court case.
There is an intermediate step for members
of the community Hear the evide,
admittedly from only one side.
The accused doesn't appear in front of you.
Her lawyer doesn't appear in front of you.
But you at least are a check toe
sure that folks aren't getting brought
into court for trial simply bece
that's what the District Attorny
or the Attorney general wants t.
It's what the people have affird
through the true bill of the Un.
So that's, in general,
the grand jury process.
If you get selected to serve to,
you'll be spending more time wih
the district attorney's team.
She and the folks who work with
her will be telling you more
about how the process works.
I'll meet with you one more time today to
tell you a little bit more about your role.
You have a few other
authorities as grand jurors.
You can inspect the jail if you
want to go inspect the jail,
and a few other things,
but the meat and potatoes of
your work will be considering.
These presentations from the
district attorney's office,
these indictments that you'll be
deciding whether the true bill,
in other words,
move forward with prosecution or no Bill,
We don't think there's probable
thoughts for this to go any fur.
And that's the end of the case at that point.
That's the general theme of what we all do.
Now,
in order for you to serve as a grand jury,
you have to meet some basic qualifications.
I'm going to ask you in a minute
about those and you'll let us k.
How you fit into those categori.
I need to administer an oath
in order to do that.
But before I do that,
I want to give an opportunity
for other folks who are going
to be interacting with you today
to introduce themselves.
We have the District Attorney and her team.
Good morning. Can everyone
hear me in the back?
Good morning. I am pawning Will.
I am the District Attorney here in Portland
on Georgia. Thanks to
you all for electing me.
I have two members of my
team here with me today.
That is Chief Senior Assistant
District Attorney De Andre Roya.
He is over the grand jury.
And so if you're selected,
you will spend a lot of time with him on.
He'll take very good care of yo,
I assure you.
And also Deputy District
Attorney Grant room.
Thank you all.
Good morning, everybody.
Can you hear me all right?
My name is Amy Von Kelsch.
We met earlier.
I'm the director of Jury servic.
I also have with me my esteemed team a day.
Shabattle, who is the deputy jury clerk,
and Marina Milankovich,
who is a senior jury assistant.
Thank you.
I also want to remind you real quick,
phones are away.
No filming,
no photographs and no pictures.
Thank
you. Thank you, Miss Von Kelsch.
So today you'll see more of
Miss Von Kelsch and her team.
After today, you won't see them again.
Although I think it's your team that's
responsible for paying these grand jurors.
Is it a whopping $25 a day?
It is. It is $25 a day.
I should have added that as an incentive
to serve $25 a day for each day you serve.
That adds up.
Over the course of two months,
you'll be seeing a whole lot ofe
district attorney's team because that's
the team that runs the grand ju.
They are making the presentations to you all.
So today, as you learn more about your role,
if you're selected and then each
day you show up, it would be.
The DA's team that will be
working with no judges in there.
You're not going to see me agai.
And the Jury Services team's
role completes today.
All right.
I need each of you to stand up
so I could administer this hope.
And once you're up,
I need to see that right hand u.
All right. I need to know if you
shall give true answers to all
questions that may be asked by .
Or the District Attorney.
Or her representatives concerning your
qualifications to serve as a grand juror.
We say yes, if you so swear or affirm.
Yes. Does anyone not so swear or affirm?
All right, take a seat.
You are now all officially
potential grand jurors,
so there are only three.
The qualification questions I asked out
here and then we're going to do roll call,
any follow up we have will be on
individual basis in the individual basis room
where you'll go as we call your names first.
I need you to raise your hand if you know.
You can't already know what the
question There's no early quest.
Let me finish the question,
because if you raise your hand,
who wants to be the forever
four person grand jury?
I need you to raise your hand iu
no longer reside in Fulton Coun.
You all did at some point,
because that's how you got the lovely summit.
Does anyone no longer reside
in Fulton County?
Is there anyone here who
is an elected official?
Or has been an elected official
in the past two years.
I don't mean elected to chairman
of your homeowners association
or beauty queen or something,
but you're the mayor,
You're elected to the school bo.
Is an elected official that way other
than the District Attorney and myself.
And if you've been convicted of a felony
and have not had your rights restored,
A felony is a crime that is punishable
by a year or more in custody.
You may never have gone to jail,
but if you've been convicted of a crime
and your sentence was denominatn
years rather than days or month,
that could be a felony and thaty
create an issue for you serving.
So if you are a convicted felon and you
have not had your rights for sc,
hands up, all right.
So in a moment,
I'm going to call out each of your names.
You have been randomly put in
a numeric order,
not based on when you showed upr
Zodiac sign or anything like th.
But once everyone was checked i,
the jury clerk's team has a piee
of software that randomizes thi,
so you're in a particular order.
Now.
I'll be calling out your name,
just your last name,
so if there's more than one of
you with the same last name.
Or raise your hand, sort out who it is.
But I'm just working with last names here.
When I call your name,
you need to say one of two thin,
either ready to serve my ears or hardship.
And please keep in mind the typf
hardship that would excuse you from service.
It's the kind of situation wheru
are the sole provider for a min6
or 100 if you don't have someone else
in your household who can care for someone.
If there is some serious medical
condition that would prevent you
from coming to the courthouse
to service the grand jury,
those are all things that will
certainly consider whether it's
sufficient to excuse you or not.
Not sure I'll make the ultimate decision,
so hold it against me,
not against the District Attorn.
Or Jury Services,
and we'll hear you out on whater
it is. But as a reminder,
the fact that you know you can'e
here for a week in August or there are
a few days in July when you've a
business trip or vacation, that's OK.
That's not a hardship.
And the way we structure this wh
alternates, we can accommodate .
There is again,
no expectation that you will bee
every day of this term of servi.
It's great if you can,
but that's not so realistic.
So one of the roles of your foreperson
is making sure that you've got a quorum
every time the grand jury meets.
But that flexibility means you
don't need to be there every da.
So please don't raise your hand
because you're going to a Braves
game in late July thinking thats
going to get you out of jury.
Because it won't.
You're going to have to come bao
that room and tell us we're going to try
to keep a straight face when you say,
well, I've got these brave
tickets and it's a day game.
We'll be able to go to that
game if you already bought,
OK.
So with that kind of caveat surrounding
what constitutes A hardship,
we're going to roll through the group here.
So yes. And you speak up, I'll repeat
your question so people can hear it. Yes.
So it's a great quick question ,
it's not that this potential grandeur
has a four year old with no othr
way to care for the four year o,
but maybe your doctor and you have patients
or you work in a nursing home and you
have people for whom you provide care.
That's your day job and having y
job is not a hardship otherwise.
Probably 90% of you build a walk right now.
That's part of the sacrifice ths
involved here, and it may be moe
of a sacrifice for some people.
Others may love it.
Then two days a week,
they don't have to go to work,
but you still get paid and you get $25 a day.
So if you think that it would ce
a particularly unique hardship
given your line of work,
then you should say hardship
rather than ready to serve.
And we'll hear you have just
historically having done this.
We get people come in and say,
look, I'm really important,
my business is important.
That's true.
And we would never suggest
your business isn't important.
Our business is important too,
and we really need a diverse gr.
It can't be people who hate
their job and aren't working,
but it's people from all professions.
So I'm going to say it again,
ready to serve or hardship.
You're not even.
We're going to get to you thoug.
I'll put a star next to that na,
ready to serve. Excellent.