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Would there not also be a grand jury involved at some point? If there is, the prosecutor's decision is more like a single point of failure in the prosecution th

• DannyBee 5y ago
  (Lawyer - but only 3 in states) What crimes require a grand jury is state-specific. About half of states require grand juries for some crimes. Of those, a bunch (minnesota, georgia are good examples) restrict grand juries to crimes that can be punished by life imprisonment/death require grand jury indictments. Others require them for any felony (New york is a good example) People who watched a lot of law and order think grand juries get everything, because in new york, grand juries are required for all felony cases. The other half of states do not require grand juries for indictments. My recollection (take with grain of salt) of Kansas is: 1. A prosecutor can, but is not required to, present to a grand jury for a felony case. They can also just indict directly 2. Citizens can actually empanel a grand jury. It's something like 100 people min + 2% of the voters in the county. 3. If that grand jury indicts, prosecutor can still dismiss it, but it requires leave of the court (rather than them just being able to do it out of hand).