The Michigan Grand Jury Statute provides for a Citizen’s Grand Jury and a Judicial Grand Jury. A Citizen’s Grand Jury is heard by a jury of 15 to 20 citizens and has a term of one year. A Judicial Grand Jury is held before a judge and the one year term can be extended under certain conditions. If a crime involves more than one county, the statute provides that the hearing can be held in one county rather than requiring each county spending its time and money for this purpose.
This multiple county provision has particular application to the OCCK case because Tim’s body was found in Wayne County and all other activities took place in Oakland County. The use of one Grand Jury is the better procedure. For example, if Wayne County considered Suspect A was the murderer and Oakland County sought indictment against Suspect B, both suspects could argue innocence because the other suspect was guilty. But what if both suspects participated in the murder? For instance what if Suspect A procured young children who were abused by Suspect B? Even worse, what if there is an organized group involving many other individuals?
The MSP reports indicate that Kym Worthy, the Wayne County Prosecutor, was considering a grand jury as early as October 15, 2008. The entry states that she wanted to examine several redacted names and “Cabot”. Ralph Cabot was the Genesee County polygrapher who examined Christopher Busch on January 27, 1977. Did Wayne County form a Judicial Grand Jury in the fall of 2010 after discussions with Oakland County on a one county grand jury were unsuccessful or was this during the time that Jessica Cooper would not talk with Kym Worthy? I would like clarification of this fact.
Wayne County advised me in 2015 that its Grand Jury did not indict anyone and was terminated after several extensions.