Grand Juries

A bizarre legal battle was effectively ended Tuesday when a judge ruled that a grand jury that had indicted a Texas Supreme Court justice over the prosecutor's objections was operating with improperly filed paperwork, the justice's attorney and the grand jury foreman said. The mistake, made when the Harris County district attorney's office extended the grand jury's term in November, invalidated all indictments issued after that, District Judge Jim Wallace ruled.

The grand jury testimony that led to Barry Bonds being charged with the federal crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice was ordered unsealed Friday by a federal judge who also ordered prosecutors to reword their indictment of the all-time home run king. The original indictment revealed Bonds had tested positive for testosterone in an independent test sought by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Victor Conte in November 2000.

They lied, they changed their stories and they compared notes even after being ordered not to by a special Orange County grand jury investigating a deadly beating at Theo Lacy Jail, the testimony shows. During 45 days of grand jury prodding, members of the Sheriff's Department repeatedly hindered the probe, according to thousands of pages of transcripts made public last week. Then-Sheriff Michael S.

Nurses working at Orange County sheriff's jails are hobbled in their efforts to provide excellent medical care to inmates by significant staffing shortages, insufficient training, equipment problems and communication breakdowns, according to a grand jury report released Thursday. The grand jury review was prompted by published reports about inmate deaths that raised questions about medical care at the jails.

Marine Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson, jailed in Los Angeles last week for contempt of court for refusing to testify against his former squad leader about the alleged killing of Iraqi prisoners, was released Thursday after promising to attend a grand jury session and listen to questions. Joseph Low, Nelson's attorney, said his client promised U.S.

A grand jury here Monday cleared a Pasadena, Texas, man in the shooting deaths of two suspected burglars as they left his neighbor's house -- a case that stirred a national debate over whether he was a vigilante or a hero. Joe Horn, 62, shot the men on Nov. 14 after he called authorities and declared his intention to open fire on the suspects with his 12-gauge shotgun.

A grand jury has concluded that a 31-year-old La Habra woman who died in June in the Orange County jail system's infirmary might have survived her heart attack if nurses had been properly trained in basic emergency techniques. The nurses' first response after Vicki Avila's collapse was to find a paper towel to wipe blood from her nose.

A grand jury criticized the Orange County Transportation Authority on Tuesday for falling behind on its schedule to improve railroad crossings before a major Metrolink expansion by 2009. The county grand jury also said the agency still lacked a policy to establish quiet zones for the county's 55 rail crossings and recommended a rail safety program to educate the public before the train expansion is completed.

The Orange County district attorney's office announced Thursday that it had impaneled a special grand jury to investigate the death of a man beaten by fellow inmates at a county jail after guards allegedly told them erroneously he was accused of child molestation. In the first slaying in a county jail in 20 years, John Chamberlain, 41, was killed Oct. 5 at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange.

An Orange County Grand Jury report issued Monday recommends that Santa Ana, Anaheim and other large cities check the immigration status of their jail inmates. The grand jury proposed that cities consider having their officers trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct the checks or arrange for the Orange County Sheriff's Department to do them. Local departments should turn over illegal immigrants to federal authorities, the report says.