In Ferguson, tensions are tighter than a drum in morbid anticipation of the decision of the grand jury in the fatal police shooting of Mike Brown, a local Black teenager. We have said “the decision of the grand jury,” but in truth, it isn’t the grand jury which really decides anything – it’s the prosecutor. As the saying goes, a prosecutor can use a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he wants to. Unless I miss my guess, he doesn’t want to. It goes against too much grain. Most people never see a grand jury. They’re traditionally done in secret, although the Ferguson grand jury has more holes than a tennis net. It has leaked lakes of information, seemingly to set the stage for a vote of no indictment; no true bill.
Years ago, in Philadelphia, a grand jury was empaneled to decide on whether cops who dropped a bomb on a house, killing 11 men, women and children, the MOVE house, burning several blocks down to the ground, should be charged with anything. Months and months passed, and one day the announcement came. No true bill. No charges. The DA who ran the show would, years later, become the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, retiring judge Ron Castillo, because a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich, if it wants to. From in prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
