I heard the news today, oh boy...
I woke up, read the headlines from the newspapers, and wanted to go hide under my bed, even though I'm 8 time zones away from Ferguson, Missouri.
At this point, I'm looking for silver linings in the dark cloud, because it's that or punch something, and anything I break, I've got to fix, and what I'd probably break would be my hand.
Okay, silver lining one: we live in an age where obscenities such as the grand jury proceeding can't be swept under the rug any more. There are scribes everywhere, and they can talk to people everywhere. It can't be ignored. It's got to be dealt with.
Silver lining two, which is probably cold comfort at this point in time: there's a significant difference between a trial jury - a "petit jury" - delivering a verdict of "not guilty" and a grand jury returning "no bill" on an indictment. The latter isn't covered by double jeopardy under US law. It's entirely possible - however unlikely - that at some point in the future, a prosecutor (perhaps a special prosecutor) could present an indictment before another grand jury, which could return a true bill of indictment, and the accused would face a petit jury which would decide his guilt or innocence.
Like I said, cold comfort. Nothing can bring back the dead.
This entry is cross-posted from http://bktheirregular.dreamwidth.org/589556.html. Feel free to comment here, or on Dreamwidth using OpenID (
comments).
At this point, I'm looking for silver linings in the dark cloud, because it's that or punch something, and anything I break, I've got to fix, and what I'd probably break would be my hand.
Okay, silver lining one: we live in an age where obscenities such as the grand jury proceeding can't be swept under the rug any more. There are scribes everywhere, and they can talk to people everywhere. It can't be ignored. It's got to be dealt with.
Silver lining two, which is probably cold comfort at this point in time: there's a significant difference between a trial jury - a "petit jury" - delivering a verdict of "not guilty" and a grand jury returning "no bill" on an indictment. The latter isn't covered by double jeopardy under US law. It's entirely possible - however unlikely - that at some point in the future, a prosecutor (perhaps a special prosecutor) could present an indictment before another grand jury, which could return a true bill of indictment, and the accused would face a petit jury which would decide his guilt or innocence.
Like I said, cold comfort. Nothing can bring back the dead.
This entry is cross-posted from http://bktheirregular.dreamwidth.org/589556.html. Feel free to comment here, or on Dreamwidth using OpenID (
comments).