Expediency should never get in the way of justice. Yet that was the justification Attorney General Dana Nesselís office offered in explaining why it chose the archaic one-man jury to bring charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder and eight members of his administration.

Nessel and Special Prosecutor Kym Worthy took the evidence against the nine officials indicted in the Flint Water crisis to a one-man grand jury — a Genesee County judge — and presented it in secret proceedings with no defense attorneys present.

That allowed the prosecution to avoid laying out its case in an open court before trial, which is the typical process, and it denied the defendants the opportunity to challenge the evidence before heading to trial.

The goal was to avoid what happened the first time a case was brought against administration officials. Former Health Director Nick Lyon, facing nine felony counts of manslaughter in the Flint Water Crisis, mounted a vigorous defense that extended his preliminary exam for nearly a year before the charges were dropped.

The attorney general wanted a swifter path when she brought her own charges against the Snyder officials. So she dusted off the one-man grand jury, a tool nearly unique to Michigan.

Not only did it allow her office to move the cases faster into court, but it also keeps the defendants in the dark about the evidence that will be used against them, a tremendous advantage for the prosecution.

Defendants were denied the right to hear why the government believes it has probable cause to believe they committed the crimes of which they stand accused. That is a basic piece of due process.

The legal field should always be as level as possible. That demands scrapping the one-man grand jury.

Sen. Michael McDonald, R-Macomb Township, introduced a bill that would ban the one-man grand jury, adopted in 1917, and bring Michigan in line with most other states.

ìItís about as antiquated a law as you can get,î says McDonald, who adds his bill is part of a broader effort to modernize criminal justice legislation. ìIt seems like it exists to expedite things, but due process is important. We need to take a stronger look at the criminal justice system to make sure people are given a fair shake.î

McDonald, in his first term in the Senate, says he doesnít know Snyder or the other defendants, and began work on the bill before the charges were brought against them.

Among the justifications for using a one-man grand jury is to compel a reluctant witness to testify; to assure the truthfulness of testimony by putting the witness under oath; to grant a witness immunity and to protect the identity and reputation of those under investigation.

None of those apply in the Flint case.

Nearly all prosecutions in Michigan are done without a one-man grand jury.

McDonald is hoping for bipartisan support of his bill, and is pitching it as a measure that would bring fairness and transparency to the legal process. We hope heís right, and that the bill will move through the Legislature with enough bipartisan votes to better assure it a signature from the governor.

The criminal justice system will not miss the one-man grand jury. But its absence in Michigan will strengthen the integrity of the legal process.

— Detroit News