EFFINGHAM CO.—We learned early this morning that a grand jury was being held today in the Willow Long murder case.
For those who aren’t familiar with how the grand jury works, basically, this is going to preclude a preliminary hearing in the ongoing case of Justin DeRyke, the 22-year-old uncle of Willow who has been formally charged with three counts of First Degree Murder in her death.
A preliminary hearing was set for DeRyke for tomorrow, but electronic documents now show that it will be an arraignment (formal advising of charges, and how DeRyke will plead) as opposed to prelim.
In a preliminary hearing, evidence is presented by investigators to a judge, in order to convince the court (the judge) that a defendant should be bound over for trial. In the past, it’s been called a “mini trial” in that details of the case being investigated are given that haven’t yet been disseminated to the public. Some defendants WANT their details put out there, especially if there’s some question as to whether or not they committed the crime. Some defendants DON’T want that material out there—especially particularly gruesome of salacious information—and will waive a prelim, as is their right to do.
But in a grand jury, the prelim is superseded. The grand jury takes the place of the prelim. And because the grand jury meets in private (neither the public nor the media can attend), since there will be no prelim, the public may never learn pertinent details of the case against the accused, especially if it quietly reaches a plea and the matter never goes to trial.
The grand jury is composed of 16 citizens selected at random through the court system. Each county must keep a grand jury seated in case a situation arises in which the prosecutor believes the grand jury is necessary. In most locations, the grand jury is reselected every 18 months, in order to keep it fresh. A lot of downstate counties don’t use grand juries routinely, and only do so when there’s a very intensive case like this one, and particularly if the authorities want to keep the details of the crime a secret from the public.
We won’t know what comes from the grand jury—in which no judge presides; it’s only the state’s attorney, the grand jury, and the number of witnesses the prosecutor brings in—until the prosecutor announces it. They will either return a “true bill” of indictment, or “no true bill,” likely on the charges already alleged, but possibly on further charges. The defendant and his attorney sit in on the proceedings if the defendant wants to. The grand jury members will ask questions of the witnesses, and draw their conclusions based on answers.
So now, it’s a waiting game, to see what’s going to transpire. We’ll bring it to you as we get it. Keep checking back.