Scholars Praise Ferguson Grand Jury Fairness

[wisemaniac]

Legal experts across the country agree that while the process that led to a grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Ferguson, Missouri, was unusual, it was not unfair. Rather if it was anything unusual, it was in its fairness and openness.
Lawyers and academics told The Washington Times that, despite their personal opinions on the case, which has sparked riots over police brutality, St. Louis county prosecutor Robert McCulloch sought unbiased justice in presenting the jury with every piece of evidence and then making that evidence public.

Link to Washington Times Article

 

[greengeezer]

It makes no difference what legal experts think. People have already made up their minds and nothing will change that. Blacks believe Brown was an innocent victim; whites believe the office did the right thing.

 

[pj(HN)]

Also, in 2010, federal prosecutors took 162,000 cases to a grand jury. You know how many DIDN'T go to trial? Six.

 

[pj(HN)]

Police have a hard job. What they do is something I couldn't ever do. But you know what they rarely have? Accountability. In this case, the prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, always gets indictments - unless it's a cop. He's had five cop-involved killing cases and zero indictments. Again, five cases against police haven't made it to trial at all. He could get an indictment if he wanted one.

 

[pj(HN)]

You have to ask yourself... Would you get the same treatment as a non-law enforcement person as a person who is law enforcement? And I can only imagine your reaction if you did not recieve the same treatement as the law enforcement did... In essence the court has set up two seperate standards by which to hold a grand jury... Which is not a good thing...

 

[wisemaniac]

I've had numerous run-ins with the police. One of them got a pretty sizable write up in Gazette back in the 90's by Fanny Seiler. I'm far from a police-apologist. But after listening to the PA, reading over the witness testimony (yes, Ezra Klein, Brown's friend with him during the shooting does back up Wilson's story that Brown handed him the cigarillo's) & reading what has been published after the decision, Brown's death while tragic was not the act of a police man rolling up on a suspect & shooting him in the back while he had his hands raised. If you have a violent confrontation with a cop in which you go for his gun & then shortly after you charge the cop, the chances of you getting killed by gunfire are about 100%. For the people who keep asking why he had to shoot to kill, this isn't a movie. Knee-capping a guy who is running at you is all but impossible. If you fear for your life, you shoot for center mass & shoot until the threat is gone.

 

[pj(HN)]

Wise... I am not a legal scholar... However, from my research what I can tell is that Grand Juries traditional don't hear evidence... It is the prosecutors play ground... So, the rules seem to be different for different people and that differences is law enforcement vs non-law enforcement.



This thing should have went to trial... So that at the end of the day all facts where presented to a jury and if the law enforcement officer was found innocent so be it... But that did not happen... The deceased family never got their day in court...



To a lot of people at the end of the day... What is one more dead "thug" killed by a cop... Right? To hell with what appears to be preferential treatment of law enforcement officers by the court system...

 

[banker6796]

PJ, the point that you are missing is that if not for the political pressure the DA never would have presented the case to the grand jury because he knew it was not a viable case. For your statistic to have validity you would have to know what percentage of all cases the Feds look at are submitted to a grand jury.

I think of it like throwing a challenge flag in football. Stats may say that coaches win 80% of their challenges, but that's because they usually don't challenge obvious plays.

 

[greengeezer]

I have been pulled over a couple of time for minor traffic violations. When the officer got out of his car and walked up to my window and asked to see my license, you can bet your next pay check that the first words out of my mouth weren't "What the f**k you gonna do about it?"

 

[wisemaniac]

This may be the most thoroughly investigated case before a grand jury in my lifetime. When Holder's DoJ gets involved you can damn well bet there's political pressure to indict. The PA (who is a Democrat) came out & laid out details for a half an hour to go over the finding of the jury (which contained minorities.) Of course there are issues between cops & minorities but in this instance, the cop wasn't at fault.

I swear people are already pretending like no investigation was done.

 

[raleighherdfan]

A very good explanation of this process from an attorney over on the smack board. The Brown family got more than reasonable treatment by the DA in this case. PJ is proving as wise as Wii wii on this one.

 

[GK4Herd]

The problem is that many of you are trying to frame this case within the restraints of your political ideology. A person's innocence or guilt is based on the merits of their actions and depending on the facts may or may not support your political views. Thank God some of you weren't responsible for passing judgement in this case because a few don't have the ability to seperate what you wish to be true from what is really true.

I have to believe that a fair decision was reached based on a ton of evidence and what appears to be an honest attempt to get it right. I visited the 16th Street Babtist Church a couple of days ago in Birmingham and if you want to be outraged at evil and prejudice, read up on how the justice unfolded in the bombing deaths of the four girls who were simply going to a church activity. Some of the murderers never were tried until nearly 40 years after the event. Now that's something that outrage should have forced the issue on these klan members decades before it did.

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

I agree with what OP quoted. This process went above and beyond what is normally done in a good way.

Saying the PA never gets indictments in police shootings is immaterial; you ever consider the possibility all five were justifiable?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[pj(HN)]

Raoul. Really? You support creating a special class of citizens who receive special treatment by the court system? You don't see a problem with this?

 

[i am herdman]

PJ, there was not enough evidence to take this to a trial for a major felony. Honestly, the DA could have never even taken it to the grand jury. But, he was more than fair.

I spoke to a retired police officer who would tell me straight up. I asked him if this officer(based on the facts we know) made a mistake. Point blank, he said no other than he didn't shoot real well, but adrenaline and fear can make you do that.

He made it perfectly clear that when you reach for a police officers gun you are in his words, "going to get your ass shot."

You are in the military. You know you protect your weapon at all cost.
This post was edited on 11/29 10:37 AM by i am herdman

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

Originally posted by pj(HN):
Raoul. Really? You support creating a special class of citizens who receive special treatment by the court system? You don't see a problem with this?

Yeah really. Most police shootings are justified. How is taking the case before a grand jury special treatment? Special treatment would just be saying "fvck it" and doing nothing.

 

[wisemaniac]

Originally posted by Raoul Duke MU:

Originally posted by pj(HN):
Raoul. Really? You support creating a special class of citizens who receive special treatment by the court system? You don't see a problem with this?

Yeah really. Most police shootings are justified. How is taking the case before a grand jury special treatment? Special treatment would just be saying "fvck it" and doing nothing.

This, 100%. I completely understand anger at the police for countless other acts where the they overstepped their authority. But to single this one out not only makes no sense, it's takes away from instances where the public should be mad as hell & taking to the streets to protest. Not only was the cop in the right, the grand jury went up & beyond what was expected because they knew the public (the Twitter-razzi) was calling for blood. I'm telling you, if there was evidence to support an indictment, especially with the public & political pressure to do so, I'm pretty sure this Democrat PA would have done so.