SANTA BARBARA, Calif., March 11 (UPI) -- U.S. legal experts have said that convening a grand jury at this point in Michael Jackson's legal case, which prosecutors began doing this week, is unusual.
Gerald Uelman, a defense attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, told the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News Press that a grand jury hearing typically is held before charges are filed or before an arrest to determine if there is a case, rather than four months later, when the prosecution is already building its case, E! Online reported Thursday.
"That's where the concern arises -- when you are running a grand jury at the same time you are preparing for trial," Uelman said.
Laurie Levenson, professor at Los Angeles' Loyola School of Law, said a grand jury hearing at this time "could mean (the prosecutor) just wants to handle everything in secret and avoid a preliminary hearing, or it could mean he doesn't have much of a case and doesn't want to proceed, but is letting the grand jury take the political heat when they don't indict."
