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The Water Cooler
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How prosecutors came to dominate the criminal-justice system
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<blockquote data-quote="_CY_" data-source="post: 2672383" data-attributes="member: 7629"><p>here's a reverse twist for DA's .. folks demanding that City DA NOT handle police involved capital cases. </p><p></p><p>============</p><p>Some Want City DAs to Give Up Handling of Police Cases</p><p><a href="http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/news/criminal_justice/219986/some-want-city-das-to-give-up-handling-of-police-cases/" target="_blank">http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/news/criminal_justice/219986/some-want-city-das-to-give-up-handling-of-police-cases/</a>.</p><p></p><p>Some are saying city district attorneys are not capable of prosecuting police cases in light of the no indictment vote in Eric Garner's death and other high-profile cases. As protests grow, so does the chorus of people calling for district attorneys to give up handling police cases.</p><p></p><p>"I think it's important that the governor of the state of New York appoint a special prosecutor in the case of any death as a result of NYPD and/or serious injury," said Public Advocate Letitia James.</p><p></p><p>When police tried to arrest Eric Garner, it wasn't his first run-in with police over allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. The Legal Aid Society, which represented him in those cases, says Garner argued the charges were bogus. Legal Aid says prosecutors work too closely with police to fairly investigate them.</p><p></p><p>"The recent failure to indict police officers in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, we believe that special prosecutors should be appointed to handle police involved deaths of civilians," Seymour James Jr., attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society, said in a statement.</p><p></p><p>Governor Andrew Cuomo isn't going that far yet, but does say there should be a review of the justice system because too many perceive it as unjust.</p><p></p><p>"And it's been Eric Garner. It's Ferguson. It was Amadou Diallo here in New York, It was the Bell case here in New York. It was Trayvon Martin. These long series of cases where people have seen the same type of repeat problem," Cuomo said on NBC's "Today."</p><p></p><p>Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson is fuming at the notion of being overstepped.</p><p></p><p>"I don't believe that the local prosecutors should have these cases taken away from us and given to a special prosecutor," Thompson said. "I think that people are upset, and I understand that they're upset, but I think that I should be able to fairly and thoroughly investigate these matters on behalf of the people of Brooklyn. That's what I was elected to do."</p><p></p><p>In terms of the decision on Staten Island not to indict officers, the Legal Aid Society has already filed court papers to get all of the grand jury information. The public advocate is expected to do the same next week.</p><p></p><p>-------------</p><p><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/11/ferguson-verdict-0" target="_blank">http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/11/ferguson-verdict-0</a></p><p></p><p>Given this standard, and the fact that prosecutors have enormous discretion over the proceedings, one would think that indictments are fairly easy to secure whenever the state has a reasonable amount of evidence. And indeed, as Reason's Anthony Fisher writes, a grand jury refusing to hand down an indictment is "an incredibly rare thing". In federal (rather than state) courts, grand juries in 2010 failed to indict in just 11 out of 162,000 cases. If anything, conservative legal scholars in recent years have worried that grand juries are too susceptible to indicting based on flimsy cases.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, we shouldn't be at all surprised by the grand jury's verdict. While it is generally easy to get an indictment, it is extremely difficult to indict a police officer. This is especially true for homicide, as Jamelle Bouie writes. While 410 "justifiable homicides" were reported by the FBI in 2012, there were virtually no indictments of police for killing people. FiveThirtyEight's Ben Casselman wonders whether the difference is based on jurors being more inclined to trust police; prosecutors being less inclined to make cases aggressively against police; or prosecutors being forced to bring weak cases against police, due to political pressure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="_CY_, post: 2672383, member: 7629"] here's a reverse twist for DA's .. folks demanding that City DA NOT handle police involved capital cases. ============ Some Want City DAs to Give Up Handling of Police Cases [url]http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/news/criminal_justice/219986/some-want-city-das-to-give-up-handling-of-police-cases/[/url]. Some are saying city district attorneys are not capable of prosecuting police cases in light of the no indictment vote in Eric Garner's death and other high-profile cases. As protests grow, so does the chorus of people calling for district attorneys to give up handling police cases. "I think it's important that the governor of the state of New York appoint a special prosecutor in the case of any death as a result of NYPD and/or serious injury," said Public Advocate Letitia James. When police tried to arrest Eric Garner, it wasn't his first run-in with police over allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. The Legal Aid Society, which represented him in those cases, says Garner argued the charges were bogus. Legal Aid says prosecutors work too closely with police to fairly investigate them. "The recent failure to indict police officers in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, we believe that special prosecutors should be appointed to handle police involved deaths of civilians," Seymour James Jr., attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society, said in a statement. Governor Andrew Cuomo isn't going that far yet, but does say there should be a review of the justice system because too many perceive it as unjust. "And it's been Eric Garner. It's Ferguson. It was Amadou Diallo here in New York, It was the Bell case here in New York. It was Trayvon Martin. These long series of cases where people have seen the same type of repeat problem," Cuomo said on NBC's "Today." Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson is fuming at the notion of being overstepped. "I don't believe that the local prosecutors should have these cases taken away from us and given to a special prosecutor," Thompson said. "I think that people are upset, and I understand that they're upset, but I think that I should be able to fairly and thoroughly investigate these matters on behalf of the people of Brooklyn. That's what I was elected to do." In terms of the decision on Staten Island not to indict officers, the Legal Aid Society has already filed court papers to get all of the grand jury information. The public advocate is expected to do the same next week. ------------- [url]http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/11/ferguson-verdict-0[/url] Given this standard, and the fact that prosecutors have enormous discretion over the proceedings, one would think that indictments are fairly easy to secure whenever the state has a reasonable amount of evidence. And indeed, as Reason's Anthony Fisher writes, a grand jury refusing to hand down an indictment is "an incredibly rare thing". In federal (rather than state) courts, grand juries in 2010 failed to indict in just 11 out of 162,000 cases. If anything, conservative legal scholars in recent years have worried that grand juries are too susceptible to indicting based on flimsy cases. At the same time, we shouldn't be at all surprised by the grand jury's verdict. While it is generally easy to get an indictment, it is extremely difficult to indict a police officer. This is especially true for homicide, as Jamelle Bouie writes. While 410 "justifiable homicides" were reported by the FBI in 2012, there were virtually no indictments of police for killing people. FiveThirtyEight's Ben Casselman wonders whether the difference is based on jurors being more inclined to trust police; prosecutors being less inclined to make cases aggressively against police; or prosecutors being forced to bring weak cases against police, due to political pressure. [/QUOTE]
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