12-04-2014, 10:11 AM
Legal Experts Weigh-In on Grand Jury Decision
A grand jury of 23 spent 3 month reviewing evidence presented by a prosecutor before deciding there was no reasonable cause to charge chokehold officer Daniel Panteleo (who's on modified duty with NYPD).
Here's what some legal experts are saying about the grand juries decision not to indict.
While legal experts note it's impossible to know how the grand jurors reached their conclusion, they say the Garner case, like Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, once again raised concerns about the influence local prosecutors have over the process of charging the police officers they work with on a daily basis.
"The video speaks for itself," said Jeffrey Fagan, a professor at Columbia Law School. "It appears to show negligence. But if we learned anything from the Brown case, it's the power of prosecutors to construct and manage a narrative in a way that can shape the outcome."
Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at Cardozo School of Law, agreed that, "It is hard to understand how a jury doesn't see any probable cause that a crime has been committed or is being committed when looking at that video, especially."
Another observer, James A. Cohen, who teaches at Fordham University Law School, went further, saying, "Logic doesn't play a role in this process."
Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-garner-...ng-police/
A grand jury of 23 spent 3 month reviewing evidence presented by a prosecutor before deciding there was no reasonable cause to charge chokehold officer Daniel Panteleo (who's on modified duty with NYPD).
Here's what some legal experts are saying about the grand juries decision not to indict.
While legal experts note it's impossible to know how the grand jurors reached their conclusion, they say the Garner case, like Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, once again raised concerns about the influence local prosecutors have over the process of charging the police officers they work with on a daily basis.
"The video speaks for itself," said Jeffrey Fagan, a professor at Columbia Law School. "It appears to show negligence. But if we learned anything from the Brown case, it's the power of prosecutors to construct and manage a narrative in a way that can shape the outcome."
Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at Cardozo School of Law, agreed that, "It is hard to understand how a jury doesn't see any probable cause that a crime has been committed or is being committed when looking at that video, especially."
Another observer, James A. Cohen, who teaches at Fordham University Law School, went further, saying, "Logic doesn't play a role in this process."
Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-garner-...ng-police/