www.justiceforchandra.com

[benn]

I saw this on the evening news. I forget which station it was on, but I will try to catch it again later tonight.

The news showed some legal proceedings against two jailers who had been charged with causing the death of an inmate. I did not see all that went on, but near the end of the news story the tv reporter said something like, "this was a rare event an open grand jury."

That is close to what the announcer said. Now I am beginning to wonder if the announcer was right or not, whether it was just a public hearing. If it was really an open grand jury that would be interesting. I will try to find out tonight or tomorrow. It may be in tomorrows newspaper.

benn

[benn]

Here is a news story where an open grand jury is mentioned, in San Jose, California. I don't know if this is the same story I saw this evening.

This came from the San Jose Mercury News. The url was too long and would not work.

I will just quote the first paragraph of the story and the last paragraph. (fair use).

>>>OPEN GRAND JURY HEARING SOUGHT IN SHOOTING DEATH

A Latino civil rights group Friday called for an open grand jury hearing into Tuesday's fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a state drug agent who mistook him for a dangerous fugitive parolee.<<<

Last paragraph.

>>>The district attorney's office said this week that a decision on opening the grand jury hearing would not be made until after San Jose police submit reports of their investigation next week. The last such open hearing was over the fatal shooting of a Vietnamese mother by a San Jose police officer last summer.<<<

So that seems to settle that, open grand juries, in California at least. Now I will see if the Feds have open grand juries.

benn

[rd]

It also sounds like the public in California can encourage one to be called.

rd

[benn]

Yes, I guess it takes a civil rights group to get something going. If the Chandra investigation had of had some civil rights group watchdoging the investigation the investigation might have been more complete.

From what little I have read an open grand jury does not seem possible in a Federal grand jury. Of course I guess a lawyer can always request something, whether he gets a yes answer or not.

benn