by sunny » Sun Aug 07, 2005 8:47 pm
I know this story has been linked already, but it bears reinforcing- CS makes the point that indictments could well have been "returned" by the grand jury, not "issued' by the U.S. Attorneys office- But his most important point is about "runaway grand juries" and the useful info it provides if you ever find yourself on one; More importantly, this story provides hope that it doesn't matter who Fitz's boss is.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/">citizenspook.blogspot.com/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>PROCEDURE - RUNAWAY JURIES<br><br>Furthermore, the grand jury can return indictments or true bills of their own initiation. They are not constrained by the indictments or information presented to them by Patrick Fitzgerald. The grand jurors are allowed to ask their own questions and create their own indictments. Grand juries that take the reins like this are sometimes referred to as "runaway grand juries":<br><br>A runaway grand jury is an exception to this rule--the grand jurors ignore the prosecutor(s) and start making their own decisions. Runaway grand juries were not uncommon in the early twentieth century. The best known of these runaway grand juries is probably the New York grand jury in the 1930's that barred prosecutors from coming into the grand jury room and took off on its own investigation of corruption in New York city government. This grand jury eventually cooperated with Thomas E. Dewey, whom the jurors apparently decided they could trust, and returned many indictments against a variety of defendants, including some well known members of the New York Mafia. Since modern grand jurors tend to be ignorant of their ability to act independently of a prosecutor's wishes, runaway grand juries have pretty much become a thing of the past. There have, however, been a few exceptions: Recently, for example, a California state grand jury indicted all the top county officials, and nearly closed down county government. And a Texas state grand jury began investigating a mayoral candidate and seems to have ruined his reputation sufficiently to cause him to lose the election, even though he was never charged with any crimes." <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.udayton.edu/~grandjur/faq[/i">www.udayton.edu/~grandjur/faq[/i</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->]I suggest you read Matthew Cooper's comments about his experience with Patrick Fitzgerald's unique grand jurors:[/font]" 'Grand juries are in the business of handing out indictments, and their docility is infamous,' Cooper writes. A grand jury, the old maxim goes, will indict a ham sandwich if a prosecutor asks it of them. 'But I didn't get that sense from this group of grand jurors. They somewhat reflected the demographics of the District of Columbia,' he wrote. 'The majority were African-American and were disproportionately women... These grand jurors did not seem the types to passively indict a ham sandwich. I would say one-third of my 2-1/2 hours of testimony was spent answering their questions, not the prosecutor's.' " <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/leakcase719">www.blackamericaweb.com/s...eakcase719</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The grand jury may have returned indictments or true bills through their own proactive and fully Constitutional power, as opposed to reacting to indictments or information presented by the prosecutor.<br><br>Another paragraph from Flocco's report lends credence to this issue:<br><br>"Sources close to the investigation report that members of the House, Senate, 9.11 Commission and other members of the media are also under investigation as potential targets by a grand jury regarding obstruction of justice and other oversight failures linked to the 9.11 attacks--indicating that citizen panelists working with Fitzgerald may be seeking a wholesale cleansing of what many have said is a crime-wracked White House and Congress. "<br><br>Pay attention to that last line, "--indicating that citizen panelists working with Fitzgerald may be seeking a wholesale cleansing..."<br><br>That's a very strong tip off that Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury, to some degree, may be taking things in their own hands. (And if that is the case, Citizen Spook commends them for doing so.)<br><br>It's important to note, that Fitzgerald may be constrained by his legal mandate as to what he is allowed to investigate. He might also be constrained by superiors and furthermore, both he and the grand jurors might have considered the possibility that his job may be taken from him. After all, the President will decide whether Fitzgerald returns to his job when his term is up in October. The grand jury might also be aware of that fact, and they may have taken over this investigation, not out of disrespect for Patrick Fitzgerald, but perhaps just the opposite.<br><br>Hopefully, they've awoken to the magnitude of the historical significance their questions, deliberations and votes may hold. It's possible that the future of our country, the lives of our soldiers, and the lives of innocent people in foreign countries all over the globe are now in the minds and hearts of the "citizen panelists" now examining the actions of the Bush administration and its facilitators.[/i] <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=sunny@rigorousintuition>sunny</A> at: 8/7/05 6:54 pm<br></i>
