Enough! Local Grand Juries, When it Comes to Cop Killers, Need to be Abolished!

[sabrina 1]

Everyone knows the old saying, 'when it comes to GJs, a prosecutor can indict a Ham Sandwich'!

Looking at the available stats, that is certainly true.

EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO COP KILLINGS!

For statistics on GJs see here:

It's Incredibly Rare For a GJ to do What Ferguson's GJ Did

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which we have data. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them.

Except when it comes to Cop Killers:

A recent Houston Chronicle investigation found that “police have been nearly immune from criminal charges in shootings” in Houston and other large cities in recent years. In Harris County, Texas, for example, grand juries haven’t indicted a Houston police officer since 2004; in Dallas, grand juries reviewed 81 shootings between 2008 and 2012 and returned just one indictment. Separate research by Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson has found that officers are rarely charged in on-duty killings, although it didn’t look at grand jury indictments specifically.

With these kinds of stats, it is clear that no local prosecutor is going to try to get an indictment when a cop murders a US Citizen.

So, rather than waste words, let's just go straight to a solution.

In cases of Cop Killings, GJs should be Federal.

Investigations should be Federal.

Independent Prosecutors need to be put in charge of these cases and they too should be Federal.

The corruption of the process at the local level is clear for anyone to see.

No local elected prosecutor is going to alienate the police with whom s/he is generally very close.

Both the Ferguson case and the NY case now need to be thoroughly investigated, NOT by the foxes themselves, by at a Federal Level.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. Why do they need to go to a GJ in the first place?

Why cant they just indict?

[sir pball]

2. Felony indictments must be issued by a GJ in NY nt

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

3. Is that true in all states?

[sir pball]

10. No, but with Garner at least, it's relevant. I think MO can bypass the GJ nt

[sabrina 1]

8. Are you sure about that? Is there a statute you could refer us to? I thought

using a GJ was an option for a prosecutor, in NY and everywhere else. Not saying I don't believe you, but I did not know that. I know in Ferguson that was not the case, it was the prosecutor's choice not to file charges himself airc.

[sir pball]

9. Yes. It's definitely mandatory in NY State.

I can't search the NYS Code from my phone but here's the Manhattan DA's page: http://manhattanda.org/criminal-justice-system-how-it-works?s=39

It is possible to bypass the GJ with the consent of the accused but I'm going to rule that one out as a realistic option for police incidents, obviously.

[sabrina 1]

11. Thanks, I didn't know that. I will search the Code myself, but it looks like you are correct.

[sir pball]

12. My wife served on one last year,

It was explained at length to them. I am correct.

[sir pball]

13. Nevermind the DA's office. Section 180 of the statutes deals with felony prosecutions.

Here ya go

[WinkyDink]

4. "Cop killings" means "the killing OF cops." Like "The Onion Field." Maybe "Killer cops"?

[sabrina 1]

6. Killer Cops! Fixed, thank you!

[Man from Pickens]

5. My modest proposal

When a cop is accused of a crime, make the grand jury exclusively from people who have had friends and/or family killed by cops. If those people clear the cop, then I'll believe there's no reason to have charges and a trial.

It's not like there's any lack of people who would qualify to sit on such a grand jury!

[sabrina 1]

7. I like that. If something isn't done about this soon, the jury pool will be very big indeed.

It's at least as fair as the current system.

[tritsofme]

14. What would be the basis for federal jurisdiction over such a crime?

Federal courts don't typically have the power to intervene in local criminal matters.

[sabrina 1]

15. Violation of Civil Rights. There have been a few cases involving cops killing people that were

tried at a Federal Level. Don't remember the cases offhand, but I think Amadou Diallo may have been one of them.

[tritsofme]

17. Isn't that what the Justice Department is looking into right now for the Brown case?

The feds can try a civil rights case, which has a pretty high bar, but generally not the murder itself. It seems like you realize that, so I'm not sure exactly what you are proposing.

[sabrina 1]

19. Yes, they are investigating, but not a criminal case. See my post below. Rodney King's case was

taken to Federal Court and convictions were obtained. But it is difficult apparently.

[sabrina 1]

18. Okay, I found two cases were the State GJ refused to indict that were then taken to Federal Court

Amadou Diallo was one and Rodney King another.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ferguson-feds-20141125-story.html

Because of the high standard needed to prove police misconduct, a video can be crucial to a successful prosecution. Relying on video of the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors convicted two of four officers charged with violating his civil rights. The federal case was filed after a Simi Valley jury acquitted the officers.

Without video, cases are usually harder to prove. A jury found four New York City police officers not guilty of second-degree murder in 2000 after they shot Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea, 19 times. A federal investigation found there was not enough evidence to charge them with civil rights violations.

So video was key to the Rodney King Federal Conviction.

I wouldn't call this a high standard, not when it comes to protecting citizens from out of control cops.

[herding cats]

16. You need to be preaching to the DA's more than the GJ

Present a case which proves an indictment is warranted and they'll give you what you want. Act like the defense counsel for the accused and they'll walk every time.

[sabrina 1]

20. Looking at the statistics on killer cop GJs, there is little hope that DAs are going to act like

prosecutors. Maybe it will take a class action suit by the people against police nationally, all the way to the SC, to get changes made in terms of when the Federal Govt can intervene in these cases.

Or perhaps if we had a working Government FOR the people, Congress might think about protecting the citizens from what is supposed to be a Civilian Police Force but is now more like an occupying army.