Now that the Medical Examiner - the government medical expert, has found that the police committed a homicide, the prospect of criminal charges needs to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, the current process for considering criminal charges against police officers is not serious. The Hennepin County Attorney's office - whose prosecutors work with Minneapolis police on a daily basis - will present evidence to a grand jury to decide whether to indict the police for any crimes. There is no legal requirement in Minnesota that criminal charges be presented to a a grand jury except for 1st degree murder cases. (The actions of the police in this case would not fit with 1st Degree Murder because they were not premeditated or fitting in other specific categories for that crime. The killing could be 2nd or 3rd Degree Murder). The county attorneys in fact do not use a grand jury to bring criminal charges in any other cases except for rare politically controversial cases. They otherwise bring criminal charges by simply drafting a document called a complaint and having it signed by a law enforcement officer. When the county attorney does use a grand jury voluntarily, it is to make it APPEAR that the process was not political. This appearance is nonsense. Only the prosecutor presents evidence to a grand jury, and the prosecutor can pretty much present evidence it chooses. The prosecutor can usually get whatever result he/she wants. The common saying is "you can indict a ham sandwich." If there is no indictment, it is most probably because the county attorney did not want an indictment. I cannot recall hearing of any case where a Minneapolis police officer was indicted for a homicide (has anyone else?). This is despite some highly suspect cases, such as killing an elderly couple (Lloyd Smalley and Lillian Wiese) in their apartment with a flash bang grenade explosion in 1989, shooting a seventeen year old (Tycel Nelson) in the back in 1991, shooting Abuka Sanders dozens of times a couple of years ago, to name a few.
The most recent case is simply too serious to allow the Hennepin County Attorney to go through its normal process/cover-up. THERE NEEDS TO BE A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR APPOINTED. This would be an independent attorney who is experienced in criminal law, but does not have any meaningful ties to local police. Other states, such as New York, commonly use this process. A crebible special prosecutor is the only way that I can think of to give credibility to the outcome of this case. Jordan Kushner Golden Valley work downtown _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
