When the Manhattan grand jury indicted the former president Trump yesterday, it was an instant headline news. Unprecedented, shocked, outraged, un-American are just some of the adjectives used. And the late night talk shows had a field day with it as well.
A legal beagle I am not. But my interest was piqued by the headlines and social media. Specifically, what is a grand jury? And what does the indictment actually mean?
What I found is that grand jury is a legal process where a larger than normal size (hence the grand) of jurors whom was presented with evidences to determine if an accused should be criminally charged. And the jury meets in private, without a judge.
An indictment does not mean the accused is guilty. That will be determined in the next phase when the accused faces the prosecution in front of a judge. For now, Mr. Trump has been notified and will appear in the Manhattan court for arraignment next Tuesday.
So stay tune.
Running with Buddha 
You are correct.
It is also my understanding that those who testify do so without council. So it is easy to get into trouble and you can see why T wouldn’t testify. He’d perjure himself in 1 minute.
The indictment is sealed, so no one knows how many or what the charges are.
We can turn off our TVs until Tuesday because none of the talking heads know anything.
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