Under this constitutional guaranty which is also included in your State Constitution, there is no court and no judge in the United States big enough or powerful enough to call your father before the court for trial until he has been indicted by a grand jury. A grand jury, generally composed of twelve or more men selected from ordinary citizens, is brought together every term of court. They sit in a room by themselves and hear evidence as to the commission of offenses. They have no power to find a man guilty or not guilty. Their power and their duty is to decide whether the evidence brought before them is sufficient to justify putting the accused man on trial for the offense. They hear the witnesses for the State or government. The defendant is not brought before them personally, nor is he represented in any way. It is simply a secret investigation. If these men upon this investigation decide the evidence is not sufficient to warrant the trial of a man, he is discharged. He cannot be put on trial before the court. Before the court can proceed the grand jury must first say that the man shall be tried. The people thus have in their hands the power of protecting the innocent, and the power of instituting proceedings against the guilty. The grand jury brings in its report by an “indictment” which is merely a written statement to the court that the grand jury believes the defendant should be put upon trial for a certain offense. When this indictment is brought in, the defendant is called before the court, the charge is read to him, and he is then required to say whether he is guilty or not guilty. If he says that he is not guilty, then preparation must be made for a trial in the court, before a petit jury, a trial jury, which we will consider later. The thing I want to impress upon you now is the care with which the framers of the Constitution guarded the right of your father to have an investigation by a body of citizens before he can be brought up for trial for this murder which has been committed. He cannot be dragged by officers before some court and forced to go hurriedly through a form of trial only to be found guilty. The proceedings must be deliberate and careful. The Constitution guards him against danger of conviction without substantial proof of his guilt. There are a few minor offenses, sometimes called misdemeanors, and there are violations of city ordinances, in which an indictment is not necessary, but an indictment by a grand jury is necessary whenever the crime is infamous or capital; that is, generally speaking, when punishment would involve imprisonment in the penitentiary or the taking of life by hanging or otherwise. You will understand this better as we consider the trial before the petit jury.