For a second time in a week, a federal grand jury in Virginia has refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud, sources say.
They generally don’t though because the burden to indict is SIGNFICANTLY lower than the burden to convict. Anyone that you cannot even get an indictment for isn’t likely to be convicted at trial.
Yeah, except that dealing with a legal defense costs a lot of time and money. So even if they can’t convict they can use the courts as a means to punish.
Really shows how much our legal system needs an overhaul to prevent abuse like this.
also grand juries take significantly longer time to be seated than regular trial, enough to hurt working people financial situation, that arnt well off for jury service.
Yeah, I wasn’t disagreeing. My point was that the norm was not getting an indictment on a grand jury was embarrassing and hurt someone’s career. This disincentivized prosecutors from repeatedly bringing a case to a Grand Jury. But Trump and his cronies don’t care, breaking the norm, and will keep pushing to get what they want.
That was the norm for the past century. The norm for centuries before that was that the King could fuck whoever he likes, metaphorically or literally, for any reason.
My point is Trump can keep brining it to a Grand Jury cause it effectively costs him nothing. It only takes one grand jury to indicate and then Trumps political enemies (Comey/etc.) are forced to pay legal fees (amongst other things).
My point is Trump can keep brining it to a Grand Jury cause it effectively costs him nothing. It only takes one grand jury to indicate and then Trumps political enemies (Comey/etc.) are forced to pay legal fees (amongst other things).
They generally don’t though because the burden to indict is SIGNFICANTLY lower than the burden to convict. Anyone that you cannot even get an indictment for isn’t likely to be convicted at trial.
Yeah, except that dealing with a legal defense costs a lot of time and money. So even if they can’t convict they can use the courts as a means to punish.
Really shows how much our legal system needs an overhaul to prevent abuse like this.
Which is the whole point of grand juries.
We’ve gone for a century with prosecutors being afraid to test the grand jury because it’s embarrassing to miss and mostly pointless.
Now we’re seeking out fake prosecutors who don’t give a fuck.
Because embarrassment is not a thing in US politics anymore. Turns out it was pretty much the only thing holding everything together.
also grand juries take significantly longer time to be seated than regular trial, enough to hurt working people financial situation, that arnt well off for jury service.
Yeah, just another destruction of norms.
Kind of. There was a reason to create the grand jury concept in the first place.
Yeah, I wasn’t disagreeing. My point was that the norm was not getting an indictment on a grand jury was embarrassing and hurt someone’s career. This disincentivized prosecutors from repeatedly bringing a case to a Grand Jury. But Trump and his cronies don’t care, breaking the norm, and will keep pushing to get what they want.
That was the norm for the past century. The norm for centuries before that was that the King could fuck whoever he likes, metaphorically or literally, for any reason.
They’re bringing back old norms.
There’s no defense at a grand jury hearing. So at least that’s free. Likely not stress free.
My point is Trump can keep brining it to a Grand Jury cause it effectively costs him nothing. It only takes one grand jury to indicate and then Trumps political enemies (Comey/etc.) are forced to pay legal fees (amongst other things).
There’s no defense at a grand jury.
My point is Trump can keep brining it to a Grand Jury cause it effectively costs him nothing. It only takes one grand jury to indicate and then Trumps political enemies (Comey/etc.) are forced to pay legal fees (amongst other things).