A great legal controversy is brewing over the Fulton County (Georgia) grand jury investigation into charges that former-President Trump illegally tried to get the results of the Georgia presidential election overturned. What has caused a firestorm are the TV interviews with the young woman, Emily Kohrs, who served as the grand jury foreperson. Astoundingly, this obviously immature young woman has discussed the grand jury proceedings on CNN, MSNBC, and others, coyly implying that the grand jury voted to recommend charges against Trump and several others. As a former DEA agent, I have testified at several grand juries, and I am shocked that this woman would violate the grand jury secrecy laws by going on a media blitz.
Like federal grand juries, the Georgia state grand juries are governed by strict secrecy laws. They are not adversarial proceedings with defense counsel, defendants (as yet, there are no defendants), defense witnesses etc. They are a tool of the prosecution. Therefore, the secrecy laws also serve to protect the rights of potential defendants from unfair publicity, especially since some persons under investigation may never be charged.
What this young woman has done is to undermine the very sanctity of our criminal justice system. Her silly, giggly manner and her weird facial expressions call into particular question the fairness and seriousness of the Georgia criminal system itself. In short, her actions are a prosecutor's worst nightmare.
No doubt, lawyers for Trump and anyone else who might be indicted are chomping at the bit to go into court and ask the judge for a dismissal of all charges, and if I were the judge, I would do so. The best thing the prosecutors in Georgia involved in this case would be to scrap any recommendation from this grand jury and impanel a new grand jury-in short, start all over again.
And shame on our news media for putting this woman in front of a camera and asking her about their deliberation/decision on Trump et al. They knew it was unethical and damaging to our judicial system, but their zeal to nail Trump once again prevailed.
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