Last week, civil rights activists in Charlotte, NC, were outraged when a Mecklenburg County grand jury declined to indict CMPD officer Randall Kerrick on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell.
It made the news for its rarity as much as its high profile. Fewer than ten cases are returned without an indictment annually, out of thousands. A second grand jury issued an indictment on January 27.
In a disturbing follow up published yesterday, Feb. 1, 2014, the
Charlotte Observer reveals a grand jury system that
hands down indictments at the average rate of one every fifty-two seconds.
More below the cloud of secrecy.
Two prominent attorneys, including a former Mecklenburg County prosecutor, didn't mince words. Please do read the full article; it's worth it.
“The entire system is a joke,” said Joe Cheshire, a Raleigh attorney who handles high-profile criminal cases across the state. “There is absolutely no living, breathing person with any kind of intellect who believes that a grand jury could consider and vote on 10 complex issues in the period of time that they use to deliberate on hundreds.”
Charlotte attorney Jim Cooney agrees. Rather than check the power of government, grand juries have become a prosecutor’s ally, he said, “that hands out indictments like they’re boxes of popcorn.”
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
It's the next paragraph that stopped me cold.
To be sure, last week’s Mecklenburg grand jury handled dozens of routine cases that didn’t require much testimony or discussion. But the group also dealt with the more complicated decision on whether to indict Kerrick, who was arrested Sept. 14 in connection with the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, who was unarmed.
Hold on. WTF is a "routine case?" We're talking life-altering felony indictments here, not traffic tickets. How can any case be "routine" when only one side's evidence is being heard, and the whole thing is a secret anyway?
Cheshire, who represented the defense in the infamous Duke Lacrosse Case, said
the workload is “absolutely normal” across North Carolina.
“A lot of innocent people get indicted. Lots of people guilty of crimes are indicted on something else and the public is under the misguided impression that it means something,” he said.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
Disclaimer: Please note that this case is extremely complicated, and I am neither a lawyer nor a professional journalist. My intention is to get more eyes on an important case that happened in my own community, that has become a national story with implications for every American. All quoted material is linked. I encourage those interested to see the full text and accompanying videos for greater perspective. Expert commentary and constructive criticism are always welcome!
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