GRAND JURY GROUP SEEMS IN DEMAND

SEVERAL PEOPLE have e-mailed with an interest in joining the Harris County
Grand Jury Association. I hope someone soon e-mails with plans for actually
organizing such a group.

Just this week I would have referred a caller to the association. She was
upset about the way constables responded to her attempt to help her husband
deal with some mental and drug issues.

She said she had gone to Harris County probate court to get "a mental
health and chemical dependent warrant so that he could be forced to go for
treatment provided through my health insurance plan."

She said she was assured her husband would not be treated like a criminal
"and he would merely be taken to the hospital that I had already made
arrangements with to receive him."

Instead, she said, the constables who came to pick her husband up at home
did treat him like a criminal and, because they found some drugs before
they got him in the hospital, took him to jail instead.

Not about law, but justice An association could look into situations like
this, not for the purpose of determining whether laws were broken or
department policies were not followed, but to determine whether society and
justice might be better served.

Are the constables who execute such warrants sufficiently trained in
handling cases that involve mental illness? What factors determine whether
someone gets treatment or jail for chemical dependency? Do those factors
need clarifying or changing?

Former grand jurors could look for answers. True, they would not have
powers to subpoena or indict anyone or change laws or policies, but they
could make recommendations.

A review of events that started the discussion of a grand jury association:

A law-abiding, middle-aged resident got aggravated after county officers
ordered him out of his house, handcuffed him and stuck him in the back of a
patrol car. Then, after a while, they turned him loose because it was all a
big mistake.

He could find no county official to provide him with an acceptable
explanation why the mistake occurred. High-ranking officials said the
officers were only doing their duties.

He was told that he could file a complaint with the Internal Affairs
Division, but that is a maddening and often futile exercise. Several people
through the years have told me they simply gave up because it was so
difficult to pursue a complaint about unacceptable actions of officers.

One man recently told me that after filing a complaint with Internal
Affairs at one of the constable's offices, he was told he would have to
file a formal freedom of information request before he could learn the
disposition. Departments employ a variety of roadblocks to delay and
discourage complaints.

After reading about the frustrations of the man who was mistakenly taken
prisoner at his home, Sam Houston State University criminology professor
Raymond Teske suggested he ask a grand jury to look into it.

Panel would educate jurors "The average citizen has no idea just how
powerful and independent a grand jury is in Texas," Teske said. "First,
they stand between the government officials and improper use of the
criminal justice system. ... Second, it opens a door to prevent cover-up."

However, grand juries get involved when it appears laws are broken. While
they may have independent powers, they mostly deal with matters brought to
them by the district attorney, who exerts tremendous influence over them.
And, since Harris County has five grand juries in session all the time, the
district attorney can simply choose to ignore any that fail to deliver the
goods for him.

After reading the discussion about grand juries, T.W. Weston suggested
forming a modern version of the old Harris County Grand Jury Association
that operated in Houston four decades ago. Weston was a vice president in
that group back in the 1960s.

The association helped to educate new grand jurors about their powers "so
that they could serve effectively from the start" and it also formed
several committees to work toward community improvement. It had a lot of
political muscle, Weston said.

Never having served on a grand jury, I couldn't belong to such an
association. But if any former grand jurors who have expressed interest
decide to call a meeting to discuss organizing, I could help spread the word.