Comment on Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks agoYou can keep convening grand juries against someone for the same event until they agree to indict?
Think about it this way. The grand jury is basically taking on the role of a prosecutor for the sole decision of whether or not to indict, after that, the actual prosecutor takes over.
If you are a civillian, and the prosecutor that has jurisdiction refuses to prosecute, say, the murder of your child, you can then wait for the prosecutor to lose office (either by losing an election, or wait for someone else to get appointed, depending on how its selected in your area), then ask the new prosecutor to file the charges, and since murder has no statute of limitations, you can keep trying this until a prosecutor decides to indict.
This is essentially what a grand jury is. They are temporary taking the role of the prosecutor, for one act, and one act only, deciding whether or not to indict.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 2 weeks ago
Right, but that doesn’t answer if they convene a grand jury for a specific alleged crime, and the grand jury says “no”, can they try again with a new jury? For the same alleged crime? That seems like an obvious flaw in that they can just keep trying until they get an indictment and can proceed. There’d be no point in the grand jury step because it eventually returns an indictment.
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I don’t think its insane.
If half of a grand jury is enough to acquit, then you are basically doing a coin toss to see if someone like Dylan Roof gets to walk free.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 2 weeks ago
it seems weird that the state can keep trying until they get the answer they want. Why is that protection only available later?
It wouldn’t be a coin toss - the odds are heavily slanted in favor of the prosecutor. The defense has no role.
Also does this mean that those times cops didn’t get indicted, the state could have tried again?
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Oh yes they could.
But remeber how 90% of the cops who murder people never even get an investigation. Yea, they don’t give a shit.
Oh, wanna know something funnier.
If Luigi gets a hung jury, its a mistrial, whivh doesn’t count against double jeopardy clause, so the prosecution can try again. And each hung jury is also another chance to try again.
Oh even if he gets acquitted on state charges, the federal government can still prosecute on any federal offences he may have committed.
And that hung jury shenaigan still can happen over and over again.
Like 11 says not guilty, 1 says guilty, bam hung jury. That’s how it works, like it or not.
(Unrelated, but wanna know more shenanigans? The USCIS can see all arrests, even those not resulting in conviction, and they can see all interactions with the law, even sealed, expunged, or pardoned cases. You heard that right, ALL of them! They can even see any juvenile records with the last 5 years.
Shenanigans… shenanigans…)