Q: In Texas, does the law say that the Grand Jury must reflect a representative cross-section of the community.
This is my fourth time to ask this question and no one wants to answer or knows the answer I guess. Is it unconstitutional if the make up of the Grand Jury doesn’t represent a cross-section of the community? Say the community is 50% Hispanic, 30% white, 15% black and 5% Asian then you can’t have a Grand Jury made up of all white males over 50, correct?
A:
Your question does not have a perfect answer. Texas Criminal Procedure Law Chapter 19A details the qualifications of grand jurors. There is no specific provision that mandates a cross-section of ethnicity on the Grand Jury. However, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution does allow for a challenge to a Grad Jury based upon a denial of equal protection of law.
So if you thought the Grand Jury was not properly made up or not a true representation of your community and therefore biased or unlawfully skewed, you could move to challenge the GJ.
Strange enough, but Texas law requires that any challenge to the GJ make-up must be done before they engage or deliberate. This law is terrible but has not been effectively challenged yet.
Good luck.
Kiele Linroth Pace agrees with this answer
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