{"id":1159,"date":"2026-05-27T06:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2026-05-27T06:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:03:55","slug":"inside-maricopa-countys-secretive-grand-jury-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1159","title":{"rendered":"Inside Maricopa County\u2019s secretive grand jury process"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014 At the Maricopa County Courthouse, court proceedings are typically open to the public. Anyone can sit in on a criminal trial, an arraignment or most other hearings.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1157\">Sparky unmasked: Second female mascot in ASU history reveals she was in the costume<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But one part of the justice system operates almost entirely behind closed doors: the grand jury process.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>From how jurors are selected to how they determine whether criminal charges should be filed, grand jury proceedings remain among the most confidential functions of the courts. Now, officials are offering a closer look at how the process works in Maricopa County.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The process begins long before anyone steps inside a courtroom. Potential grand jurors first receive a questionnaire in the mail, asking about their background and whether any hardships would prevent them from serving.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Maricopa County Commissioner Nick Saccone, one of two judicial officers responsible for selecting grand jurors, says the process begins long before anyone steps inside a courtroom. Potential grand jurors first receive a questionnaire in the mail, asking about their background and whether any hardships would prevent them from serving.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cBefore the jurors are supposed to come in, we see whether or not there were any hardship or cause strikes, so the jurors don&#8217;t have to travel all the way down to the court to just be excused,\u201d Saccone explained.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Those who are not excused report to the jury assembly room at the courthouse, where they are organized into a 16-member panel along with 10 alternates before being sent to a private courtroom for grand jury proceedings.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is we want individuals to serve on our grand juries who can be fair, impartial and decide the case based only on the evidence and the law presented,\u201d Saccone said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>At any given time, four to six grand juries may be operating in Maricopa County. Jurors typically meet twice a week over four months in a secured courtroom in downtown Phoenix.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>During those sessions, prosecutors from the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office present evidence and witness testimony for potential criminal cases.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThey present the evidence to the grand jury, and the grand jury decides the charges,\u201d Saccone said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Most presentations last about 20 minutes, according to Saccone. Grand jurors can question witnesses directly before deliberating privately.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Unlike a criminal trial, however, the accused person\u2019s defense attorney is not present during the proceedings. And while criminal convictions require a unanimous verdict from a trial jury, only nine of the 16 grand jurors must agree that probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed in order to issue an indictment.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1155\">Tempe still recovering 7 months after powerful microburst ripped roofs off buildings<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThey have two options,\u201d Saccone said. \u201cThey can either stop deliberating and not return an indictment, or they can request additional evidence and witnesses to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Court officials say secrecy is central to the process.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIf the public learned about everyone that was investigated by a grand jury, it could really be detrimental to those individuals,\u201d Saccone said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Officials also argue that confidentiality protects both witnesses and jurors from outside pressure.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe want to protect the grand jurors and witnesses that appear in front of the grand jury because we want them to be able to view the evidence without any outside influence,\u201d Saccone said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not a public process because we don\u2019t want the witnesses to be influenced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>If a grand jury returns an indictment, the Maricopa County Clerk\u2019s Office notifies the defendant either through a summons ordering them to appear in court or through an arrest warrant served by law enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe either will send the documents through the mail. The sheriff\u2019s office assists with the service part of warrants,\u201d Ana Namauleg, Court Operations Administrator for the Clerk of Court, said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The clerk\u2019s office also maintains all official records connected to the proceedings.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe, as the clerk\u2019s office, will remain neutral, but it\u2019s 100% our job to preserve that record,\u201d Namauleg said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The scope of the system is significant. Last year alone, the judicial branch summoned more than 12,600 people for potential grand jury service in Maricopa County. Over the past two decades, 930 grand juries have been convened in what is now the fourth-largest county in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>For Saccone, the process reflects a broader belief in citizen participation within the justice system.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;We trust our citizens to make the right decisions \u2014 whether it\u2019s trial juries or grand juries. We trust the citizens,&#8221; Saccone said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1152\">Centennial High Principal resigns amid ongoing investigation into reporting allegations<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2014 At the Maricopa County Courthouse, court proceedings are typically open to the public. Anyone can sit in on a criminal trial, an arraignment or most other hearings. Read more Sparky unmasked: Second female mascot in ASU history reveals she was in the costume But one part of the justice system operates almost entirely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arizona"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inside Maricopa County\u2019s secretive grand jury process - Scottsdale Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=1159\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside Maricopa County\u2019s secretive grand jury process - Scottsdale Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PHOENIX \u2014 At the Maricopa County Courthouse, court proceedings are typically open to the public. Anyone can sit in on a criminal trial, an arraignment or most other hearings. 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