Fergason Grand Jury Verdict

[WSEIII]

For better or worse the grand jury decided that no charges should be brought against the police officer. I know that the situation, protesting & speculating, hasn't been resolved yet. Maybe if the media reported only the facts from official sources there wouldn't have been such a mess in Fergason i.e. protesting.

[Pintman]

I don't know what happened between that young man and that officer on that street, and neither do any of us. I can only hope that the grand jury's decision was based on facts and evidence. If so, then the rule of law won out - this time.

What I do know is that generally speaking getting a grand jury to indict someone is easy for a prosecutor. The old joke is a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor wants it to. The one exception seems to be cops accused of misconduct. I hope that didn't happen here.

Here's the problem: The prosecutor controls what the grand jury sees and hears, and grand jury proceedings are secret. What they need to do in Ferguson is to unseal the grand jury record and release all the testimony and evidence for public scrutiny.

[Scumhook]

Niggers gonna nig.

This shit was a foregone conclusion.

[John Galt]

It is very rare for police to be held individually accountable. I'll say this much, Ferguson wasn't the only factor, but it did play a part in some legislation being introduced in NH. FYI, Kyle is a nice guy and an EMT when he isn't at the state house.

[Pintman]

The other thing that bothers me about the whole process is that the local county prosecutor apparently presided over the grand jury. I'm not saying he didn't conduct a down-the-middle, unbiased investigation, but local prosecutors work with local cops all the time. They can't help but become friendly with them. Everyone knew from Day 1 that the whole world would be watching, and that even the appearance of bias should be avoided. This case SCREAMED OUT for an independent prosecutor.

[picard102]

I can't imagine that even if the evidence is released and 100% clears the officer, that anything would change. The media has made up people's minds, a black person was killed by a white cop, and justice is only served if he's punished for the death.

[Pintman]

Originally Posted by picard102

I can't imagine that even if the evidence is released and 100% clears the officer, that anything would change. The media has made up people's minds, a black person was killed by a white cop, and justice is only served if he's punished for the death.

I am afraid you're right. Grand juries are secret and easily manipulated by prosecutors. Some have pointed out that lots of the evidence was contradictory. Maybe so, but its easy for a prosecutor to tip it toward indicting, and "let a trial jury sort it out at trial." At least a trial is public.

Again, this cop may have been justified. But cops are rarely indicted or charged in these situations.

[picard102]

I don't understand how they didn't indict him, just based on not wanting to deal with the blowback if they didn't. I wouldn't want these mobs to turn their attention towards me or my office. Maybe they didn't trust a jury would be able to see past the trial in the media and did their job despite the inevitable reaction.

[crazyrob]

"Burn this bitch down!!!" -Mike Brown's Stepfather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLlDzWt7TPc


So much for peaceful protesting...

[Keith]

Did they deliberately say the verdict so late at night so that the chance of rioting was higher?