A Mississippi grand jury issued a report last month sharply criticizing a police department whose errors prompted a mistrial this week in the case of two white men charged in an attack on a Black FedEx driver
So the cops did what cops do and got some white guys out of a jam.
People who don’t understand why cops never get convicted or even charged like they should don’t realize how much of a horrible good ol boys club the US court/justice system is. The police work with the prosecutors, who work with the judges all day, every day.
All they have to do is mail it in and not try real hard every time their buddies are the focus of an investigation. Then the prosecutors do a shit job on purpose, and then the judge rules favorably… All the sudden a blatant murder didn’t have enough evidence and the guys rehired by the police department so he can retire on PTSD disability. Murdering people gives you PTSD, it’s only fair.
I’m struggling to understand the role a grand jury played here and why they wrote a report. Maybe somebody with more legal experience can chime in and clear that up.
It’s my understanding that a grand jury is convened prior to indictment and consulted as a step to strengthen the prosecution of a case. The grand jury chooses to indict and can compel the testimony of those involved. This, however, sounds like it was past pre-trial phases. So what was the purpose of convening a grand jury at this point?
Then there’s the petit jury, which is the jury of 12 everyone thinks of when they hear the word “jury”, which is the group of people responsible for making a formal, unanimous decision at the end of a trial, assuming the defendant didn’t waive their right to a jury trial. It almost sounds like the article is talking about the petit jury, but makes a mistake and calls them a grand jury. Confusingly, I still don’t understand why a petit jury would be writing a report, either.
Since the jury is just made up of average people, who writes the report? How do they know what the format needs to be? The report sounds damning, but these people aren’t law enforcement or legal experts, so how much weight does their report carry? I think they’re right, mind you, especially given the judge’s admonishment of the police officer, but I’m just left with many more questions than answers.
