The_Kitchen_Guy
Silver Member
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I have no idea if this will impact Paige's case, or not, but it is an ongoing story that runs parallel to Paige's story.
DA: Grand jury to get work in ’09
By Paul Shockley
[email protected]
Link: http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20090109/COMMUNITY_NEWS/901089966/1007/NONE&parentprofile=1059&title=DA:%20Grand%20jury%20to%20get%20work%20in%20%9209%20
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Seated but given nothing to do for two years, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger Thursday said it’s “considerably more likely” Mesa County’s grand jury will get work in 2009.
Grand jury proceedings are secret and closed to the public under state law. Hautzinger expects “one or more” matters will go before the panel.
“I don’t think we’ve ever asked them to take up more than one matter in a calendar year,” he said.
The DA and Mesa County Chief Judge David Bottger are scheduled to meet early next month to select 12 regular grand jurors along with two alternates, who’ll be plucked from a pool of residents summoned for jury duty.
Under state law, counties with populations of at least 100,000 must impanel a grand jury around the start of a new year.
Those selected agree to be available to meet and hear evidence periodically for at least 12 months. Service can be extended up to 18 months under special circumstances.
A grand jury can issue criminal charges or an indictment, decline an indictment or issue a report. They hear only from the prosecution, which has the power to subpoena witnesses to testify under oath.
Mesa County impaneled grand juries in 2007 and 2008, which heard nothing.
The last panel, which looked into the finances of the Grand Junction Rural Fire Protection District, declined to charge anybody after months of service ending in February 2006.
A focus of that investigation was former Fire District board member Rob Dixon.
Dixon is the second ex-husband of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, who disappeared in June 2007.
While seating last year’s grand jury panel in March, Hautzinger peppered the selection pool of residents with questions about what they knew about the Birgfeld investigation.
Hautzinger at the time said the case may be presented by late 2008 if a Mesa County Sheriff’s investigation “hadn’t moved further along.”
DA: Grand jury to get work in ’09
By Paul Shockley
[email protected]
Link: http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20090109/COMMUNITY_NEWS/901089966/1007/NONE&parentprofile=1059&title=DA:%20Grand%20jury%20to%20get%20work%20in%20%9209%20
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Seated but given nothing to do for two years, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger Thursday said it’s “considerably more likely” Mesa County’s grand jury will get work in 2009.
Grand jury proceedings are secret and closed to the public under state law. Hautzinger expects “one or more” matters will go before the panel.
“I don’t think we’ve ever asked them to take up more than one matter in a calendar year,” he said.
The DA and Mesa County Chief Judge David Bottger are scheduled to meet early next month to select 12 regular grand jurors along with two alternates, who’ll be plucked from a pool of residents summoned for jury duty.
Under state law, counties with populations of at least 100,000 must impanel a grand jury around the start of a new year.
Those selected agree to be available to meet and hear evidence periodically for at least 12 months. Service can be extended up to 18 months under special circumstances.
A grand jury can issue criminal charges or an indictment, decline an indictment or issue a report. They hear only from the prosecution, which has the power to subpoena witnesses to testify under oath.
Mesa County impaneled grand juries in 2007 and 2008, which heard nothing.
The last panel, which looked into the finances of the Grand Junction Rural Fire Protection District, declined to charge anybody after months of service ending in February 2006.
A focus of that investigation was former Fire District board member Rob Dixon.
Dixon is the second ex-husband of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, who disappeared in June 2007.
While seating last year’s grand jury panel in March, Hautzinger peppered the selection pool of residents with questions about what they knew about the Birgfeld investigation.
Hautzinger at the time said the case may be presented by late 2008 if a Mesa County Sheriff’s investigation “hadn’t moved further along.”
