Indictment

Noun. A written accusation or formal charge of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred by a grand jury under oath to a court, carrying the weight of a public bond.

An indictment formally charges a person with a criminal offense. The indictment enables a government prosecution of a suspected criminal actor for the offenses charged in the indictment. During an indictment proceeding, a grand jury determines that there is adequate basis for bringing criminal charges against a suspected criminal actor. They are ONLY issued by a Grand Jury.

5th Amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

For certain charges, example, marijuana charges, they don’t pull a grand jury. In one such case the defendant went ahead with a jury trial, he didn’t give them any problems. As soon as the jury was selected he asked the judge to make an oral motion to have the jury leave. As soon as the jury was out the door he moved that the entire case be dismissed because he was never served an indictment. The judge had to dismiss the case. They couldn’t retry him because he had already been put before a trial jury.

Wikipedia:

In many jurisdictions that use grand juries, prosecutors often have a choice between seeking an indictment from a grand jury and filing a charging document directly with the court. Such a document is usually called an information, accusation, or complaint, to distinguish it from a grand-jury indictment. To protect the suspect's Due Process of Law rights in felony cases (where the suspect's interest in liberty is at stake), there is usually a preliminary hearing, at which a judge determines whether there was probable cause to arrest the suspect who is in custody. If the judge finds such probable cause, they bind, or hold over, the suspect for trial.

The substance of an indictment or other charging instrument is usually the same, regardless of the jurisdiction: it consists of a short and plain statement of where, when, and how the defendant allegedly committed the offense. Each offense is usually set out in a separate count. Indictments for complex crimes, particularly those involving conspiracy or numerous counts, may run to hundreds of pages. In other cases, however, an indictment for a crime as serious as murder may consist of a single sheet of paper.

Indictable offenses are normally tried by jury, unless the accused waives the right to a jury trial. Even though the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution mandates the right to a jury trial in any criminal prosecution, the vast majority of criminal cases in the US are resolved by the plea-bargaining process.