How Does an Indictment Proceeding Work in Texas Courts?

Felony cases have to go in front of a grand jury, in which an indictment is submitted. A grand jury looks at it and determines whether or not it should go further. It can be one sided with the jury seeing the police report and making based on that alone. That’s where attorney Mike Goolsby comes in. He can put together what is called a grand jury packet. It goes in front of the grand jury where they see not only the police reports but their information as well. In a grand jury packet the facts are laid out so that not only the police officers side is shown but also the client side. In many cases the attorneys at the Goolsby law firm are able to get the grand jury to see their way. Find out more about the indictment proceeding in this video with criminal defense attorney Mike Goolsby.

Video Transcription:

Indictment is basically, any felony case has to go in front of what they call a grand jury, they submit an indictment to the grand jury. What a grand jury does is then they look at it and they at that point will determine whether or not it should go further. Typically it’s just kind of a rubber-stamp, because it’s very one-sided. They see the police report and it’s one-sided. So actually we get hired a lot of times to do what’s called a grand jury packet, which we put together. And it goes in front of the grand jury. Once it goes in front of the grand jury they don’t just see the police reports, they see our information as well, and hopefully doesn’t get past that. I call, you know it’s, it’s another bite at the apple basically, so you get your chance before the grand jury. Then you got the case going on, well a grand jury packet is, we usually sit down and we lay out the facts, the way that we feel, that they are. So you’re not just getting the police officers side but you’re getting our side, our client side, and basically it’s, it’s us trying to even out what the police officer said. And in many cases we’re able to get the grand jury to see our way. But not in every case, but many times we are, but either way it kind of gives a second bite at the apple, because you get to fight at the grand jury level. And then if it goes through the grand jury, then you get to fight at the case level, as well well any felonies. Having a grand jury appearance the issue on that is, is when it is going to be and typically no, the the defendant or the person charged is not going to know when it is. When they hire us, obviously we check, we call some of my friends at the district attorney’s office, and see when that might be. To speak to a lawyer call us at the Goolsby law firm. Our telephone number’s 214-296-2770, we’ll get you in for a free consultation.