What Is A Target Letter?

Simply put, a target letter is correspondence sent to an individual who is required to testify in front of a grand jury. The individual may be required to provide background or commentary on the subject of an investigation. Although this sounds relatively unintimidating, a target letter may indicate that you are the subject of the investigation. If this is the case, you may be suspected of a serious crime.

Understanding The Role Of Grand Juries

A grand jury is a body of people organized for the purpose of determining whether there are sufficient facts in a specific case to justify indictment (a written instrument presented to a court that charges a person with the commission of a crime). Generally speaking, a grand jury is comprised of 16 to 20 people. Grand juries are designed to keep prosecutors in check. Simply put, the grand jury keeps prosecutors from making wild accusations or dragging defendants into court without enough evidence to actually convict them. Today, many states use pretrial hearings in the place of grand juries. Typically, grand juries are used when cases involve serious crimes. Misdemeanors usually don’t merit a grand jury. If the investigation involves a grievous federal crime, the Fifth Amendment states that a grand jury must be allowed to hear a case before prosecutors make an accusation. During the case, a target letter may be sent to the individual that prosecutors want to accuse.

About The Preindictment Phase

The term “indictment” refers to the official criminal accusation. Pre-indictment refers to a period of time before the case is presented to grand jury. During this time, no one has been officially accused of a crime, but prosecutors and investigators are accumulating evidence to present in a grand jury hearing. You will be notified if prosecutors target you during their investigation. First, you may discover that you are involved in an investigation through your family, friends and co-workers. During the preindictment phase, investigators may question your relatives and other people to whom you are associated. Additionally, you may receive a grand jury subpoena to produce specific documents in court or be visited by a federal agent. If a federal agent contacts you at your office or your home, he/she may ask to speak with you and advise that you are a target in an investigation. Finally, you may receive a target letter. The letter will probably indicate that you must appear before a grand jury and that you are the target of a federal investigation.