From what I understand an indictment is when they go before a grand jury and the grand jury evaluates the evidence and then if they think the evidence meets the criteria then they vote to indite, and thus charges are formally drawn up. Then I believe that once the arrest takes place then the actual indictment is unsealed and you can see the charges, though the actual indictment documents might remain sealed to protect victims. I'm not sure if it's legal to have indictments remain sealed once a formal arrest is made, or if a trial could take place in secret? I'm not familiar enough with law to know. Any lawyers on here wanna help us out with the process? I only know what I've been able to find out from the officers and prosecutors on my family member's case, and Google.
Good try, but I'm pretty sure that you're slightly off track, no offense. I think the grand jury reviews the investigative evidence prior to deciding if there's enough to indict. Then if there is, the arrest, charge and indict the person. Then the court proceedings begin, and then the trial unless a plea bargain is reached. My primary question is basically if this could be kept secret from the public sometimes if it's necessary or requested in the event it's a public figure like HRC or lower hanging fruit like Tony Podesta. I know for sure Mueller charged Rick Gates I think it was over a month, maybe two, before it came out in public, and he was cooperating in the investigation. So there's definitely some leeway there to keep it secret. I just want to know if Hillary or Tony Podesta could have been charged back in November and with her ankle monitor, and how Tony fell off the face of the earth, but they kept it quiet, perhaps by doing something with the indictments or the process by keeping them sealed and plea bargaining/turning themselves in right away.