Posted on 07/14/2015 10:59:11 AM PDT by don-o
Christopher J. Downey is a former Harris County prosecutor who worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Harris County District Attorneys Office. The now criminal defense lawyer has both presented numerous shooting cases to grand juries, and defended police officers on shooting investigations. As a prosecutor he investigated whether any laws were broken or civil rights violations occurred during a police shooting. He is of counsel to a police union, the Coalition of Police and Sheriffs (C.O.P.S.). His job now is to go out on calls when a member shoots someone.
Downey told Breitbart Texas, The role of any grand jury is to review the assertion of law enforcement that there is probable cause to justify prosecuting an individual. Grand jurors enjoy the unique privilege of total secrecy in their deliberations but in that unique privilege is the assumption that the grand jurors are unbiased.
Selecting a grand juror in any case who has prior knowledge of the facts of the case, or allowing a police officer to serve as foreman in a matter that involves allegations of police misconduct, invites unnecessary allegations of bias. It undermines the integrity of the system. To do so in this case, in a case with national attention, is patently absurd, said Downey.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Background on other threads
FR keyword" waco
The best defense is just let them have the cops run the grand jury. Trust me, it is an automatic new trial.
I am not sure what all happened there but I am thankful those shot by police weren’t black. If they had been, the media wouldn’t have made a bigger story out of this than they did Ferguson and Baltimore combined.
Hmmmm. What is this "new trial" of which you speak?
I keep wanting the truth.
They really put a current Waco Police Detective on the Grand Jury? The new Grand Jury that will be sorting this all out?
They really made him the Jury Forman?
The smell from Waco keeps getting stronger.
The vast majority of the accused will either be no-billed, or the state will let the 180 day “Article 32.01 delay clock” run out.
The sunlight would have been a good thing in this case.
It’s a slow motion train wreck. Truly mind boggling. And almost invisible.
Hard to believe the Waco authorities really thought they’d get away with this. Stacking the deck in the Grand Jury makes it look even more likely that the police were behind all of the fatalities and that they’re getting desperate to cover their bitts.
These regular Joe motorcycle enthusiasts have some sophisticated lawyers, I tell you what.
Wow, they mass arrest US citizens in a public place, yet when Mohamed goes Mohamicidal we ignore his HQ and support personnel.
That is Jeff Rense/Alex Jones nonsense. I know you’re too smart to really believe that.
I like the reference to the I Love Lucy episode.
The LEO Jock sniffers here on FR claim that we who want the truth are crazy, not.
Stacking the deck, putting a homeboy on the grand jury and making him foreman, even Obama doesn’t play that loose.
Something else to watch out for is the GJ jerking the bikers around. They’ll schedule a hearing and then cancel it at the last minute just so the bikers lose a day of work for nothing and are out attorney expenses. Anything to draw it out and make life a living hell. And all because the cops don’t have a case but have their buddies on the GJ so they can exercise their power. Knew someone they did that to and he finally ended a year of bs by eating a bullet.
It is increasingly clear that criminal cabals are imbedded at every level of our local, state and federal governments. There is no clear path to remove this profound injustice.
Neither the accused nor their attorneys participate in Grand Jury proceedings.
It is supposed to be the citizen’s safeguard against abuse of the arresting power.
Not surprising. There are a lot of closet law and order fetishists who really like the idea of boots and faces connecting.
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