Betrayal

So Robert Reich posts on his Facebook page "Here's what I hope we've learned from the debacle in Ferguson, Missouri," and then lists several of the "lessons" he takes from the Grand Jury's decision in the case of Officer Darren Wilson. His first point, the subject of this post, runs as follows:

(1) When there’s conflicting evidence about whether an unarmed person has been murdered by a police officer, a public jury trial is the appropriate process for determining guilt or innocence, not a grand jury in which there’s no opportunity to cross examine the accused.

This lesson troubles me because it makes it appear as if no one knew that a Grand Jury investigation is not the proper forum for a suspect to appear as a witness on his own behalf. EVERY FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENT KNOWS THIS.

My response, then, to Mr. Reich, who, I assume, is sincere, is as follows:

Your first point is standard operating procedure. Why was it not followed in this case?

We have to presume that the prosecuting attorneys in this case all made it past their first year of law school and so they were well aware of standard operating procedure in a Grand Jury investigation.

This presumption, then, should lead us to infer that the prosecution in this case had no intention of bringing Darren Wilson to trial.

This was not a mistake on the prosecution's part but a deliberate attempt to thwart justice.

The federal government should take jurisdiction in this case and prosecute everybody involved for civil rights violations.

One would think that President Obama and Attorney General Holder....

Oh nevermind.