Grand jury indictments are required for felony charges to make it to trial, including felonies like murder/involuntary manslaughter.
Indictments are a very low bar (probable cause). In this case, it seems clear to me from everyone’s accounts that, at minimum, this was a reckless homicide where the mishandling of a firearm resulted in someone’s death, and therefore probable cause existed to indict, so this is very clearly a poor decision on the jury’s part if the charge was manslaughter. I’m not sure if they tried to seek an indictment for involuntary manslaughter or murder though. Murder is a higher bar.
However this isn’t necessarily a done deal. Double jeopardy does not apply to grand juries’ “no bill” (i.e. the decision not to indict), so the prosecutor can gather more evidence or plan a different approach and try again. If, for example, they attempted to get an indictment for murder and failed, they could try again for manslaughter. This is really only news if the prosecution decides to stop trying to indict.
It could also be a case of a prosecutor who agrees with the shooter. (A right-wing extremist prosecutor, who has ever heard of such a thing?)
In that case, the prosecutor might feel pressured to bring the case before a grand jury, just to make it look like he’s doing his job. But he could deliberately throw the case, neglect to mention important evidence, etc, etc, and fail to get an indictment. That way, he gets to shut down the prosecution without making it look like it was his choice. Since grand jury proceedings are sealed, nobody would be able to know he deliberately sandbagged and failed on purpose. Then he gets to make a public statement about how he tried, but the grand jury said no, so his hands are tied.
So it could be a way for a malicious prosecutor to kill/bury the case without looking like he’s deliberately letting a murderer go free.
Grand jury indictments are required for felony charges to make it to trial, including felonies like murder/involuntary manslaughter.
Indictments are a very low bar (probable cause). In this case, it seems clear to me from everyone’s accounts that, at minimum, this was a reckless homicide where the mishandling of a firearm resulted in someone’s death, and therefore probable cause existed to indict, so this is very clearly a poor decision on the jury’s part if the charge was manslaughter. I’m not sure if they tried to seek an indictment for involuntary manslaughter or murder though. Murder is a higher bar.
However this isn’t necessarily a done deal. Double jeopardy does not apply to grand juries’ “no bill” (i.e. the decision not to indict), so the prosecutor can gather more evidence or plan a different approach and try again. If, for example, they attempted to get an indictment for murder and failed, they could try again for manslaughter. This is really only news if the prosecution decides to stop trying to indict.
It could also be a case of a prosecutor who agrees with the shooter. (A right-wing extremist prosecutor, who has ever heard of such a thing?)
In that case, the prosecutor might feel pressured to bring the case before a grand jury, just to make it look like he’s doing his job. But he could deliberately throw the case, neglect to mention important evidence, etc, etc, and fail to get an indictment. That way, he gets to shut down the prosecution without making it look like it was his choice. Since grand jury proceedings are sealed, nobody would be able to know he deliberately sandbagged and failed on purpose. Then he gets to make a public statement about how he tried, but the grand jury said no, so his hands are tied.
So it could be a way for a malicious prosecutor to kill/bury the case without looking like he’s deliberately letting a murderer go free.