A defense attorney challenging the use of indicting grand juries in Philadelphia argued Friday in court that there is not enough transparency in the new form of charging criminal defendants to protect their rights.
Secrecy is part and parcel of the use of grand juries, said Michael J. Engle, of Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle, Funt & Flores. But the indicting grand jury, unlike in the federal system, does not make a switch from secrecy to transparency once a defendant has been indicted, Engle argued in front of Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart.
