Citizen grand jury

In the United States, a citizen grand jury is a non-actionable, non-governmental organization that assumes a responsibility upon itself to accuse an individual or groups of individuals of having committed actionable crimes, in a similar aim as that of official grand juries. Such organizations have been organized by those who espouse conspiracy theories regarding certain events or the individuals who are accused by the citizen grand jury, and most citizen grand jury applications to official judiciary systems at the federal, state, or local and municipal level tend to be thrown out for lack of evidence.

Modern citizen grand juries were organized in the 2000s to accuse government officials of complicity in the September 11 attacks, and others were organized in the late 2000s and early 2010s regarding the accuracy of President Barack Obama's "natural birth" as a U.S. citizen.

The earliest so-called 9/11 citizen grand jury, the 23-member "Los Angeles Citizens' Grand Jury on the Crimes of 9/11/01," was organized in 2004 by activist Lynne Pentz. By October of that year it had launched an "indictment" accusing George W. Bush and other administration officials of complicity and foreknowledge of the attacks. Among those offering testimony at the event were Webster Tarpley, Barbara Honegger, Don Paul, Jim Hoffman and Christopher Bollyn. Similar citizen grand juries were organized in San Diego later in the 2000s.

Some campaigners, led by Georgia activist Carl Swensson, have sought to, "finally expose the conspiracy behind President Obama's birth certificate," by forming what they term "citizen grand juries" to indict Obama. The "citizen grand juries" are based on the Fifth Amendment's premise that "no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury."

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