According to the article:
A grand total of zero — zero — grand jurors agreed to return the proposed indictment. As a former federal prosecutor, I have never heard of this actually happening before.
Pirro also personally appointed the two prosecutors who worked on the case: One of them is a lawyer and dance photographerwho had never worked in the Justice Department before last year, and the other is a former staffer for House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who is not exactly famous for conducting competent and nonpartisan investigations.
“The average person doesn’t appreciate how stunning” it is for a grand jury to outright reject an indictment, as a former prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office in D.C. put it to me. “The rules are skewed so heavily in favor of the prosecutor that it’s almost comical. But the public is essentially saying, ‘We do not trust you. We are skeptical of you.’”
In a statement, Pirro touted the office’s prosecutorial work, including efforts to curb homicides, and said she was focused on law, not politics.
As somebody who’s served in a grand jury, it really is humiliating for them.
Not sure to what extent the process differs there, but in my experience the process is managed by a district attorney or assistant DA, and testimony for cases is a parade of mostly cops and prosecutors with a sprinkling of state’s witnesses for especially dramatic cases. You literally don’t hear from the defense at all (by design). And it’s constantly drilled into you that this is just a preliminary stage – you’re not voting whether they’re guilty, just whether the matter deserves further scrutiny in court.
To have that level of bias – before whatever unprofessional/extralegal bullshit the incompetent administration team pulled – and still get not just a failed indictment, but one with ZERO votes from the grand jury (which are typically larger than the traditional twelve) is hilarious.
“You can convince a Grand Jury to indict a ham sandwich.” Meanwhile I’m looking at the Trump toadies failing to get a felony indictment of the sandwich guy twice, lowering it to a misdemeanor and just losing the misdemeanor trial.
Who could have imagined a Faux News host would be so bad at actual law when they just makeup shit and practice outrage politics for thier rubes? Lol get fucked. This incompetence may actually save the US from this corrupt administration.
Another judge noted during the same period that prosecutors were dropping cases at a surprisingly high rate, even after keeping defendants detained for days. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to work, and it has real-world consequences,” the judge said.
Yes, it has real world consequences - for the innocent defendants that were locked up. It doesn’t seem to have any consequence whatsoever for those that bring the spurious charges. They are all officers of the court which means the court can sanction them. It should sanction them. People are being unjustly detained, overworked courts have to deal with this crap, and the taxpayer foots the bill for all of it.
I get that it takes some time to adjust to a system that has become vindictive and unfair, but after a year, it’s about time judges start meting out punishment to prosecutors who bring garbage cases, especially when it’s about Congresspeople (with immunity anyway) stating the obvious (that service members can refuse unlawful orders).
Each failure of the “legal phase of fascism” just moves the regime closer to even more extreme measures. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see something resembling the 1979 Ba’ath Party purge before midterms.
Edit: I really don’t understand why I’m being downvoted. Are y’all just really optimistic about fascists’ willingness to follow the law, or am I missing something?
I know what you’re saying feels right to you, but it’s not really backed up by what’s happening.
You think the fascists are actually gonna back down just because they’re losing court cases? I admire your optimism.
I admire your anxiety-posting that suggests there’s nothing we can do and we’re doomed to fall into fascism.
Ah, actually no. I do not admire that. Spreading the message of “the fascists are unbeatable” is not as good for the non-fascist cause as you might think.
That’s not the message I intended. The message I intended was “prepare to use more than just legal tactics to beat them.”