For a second time in a week, a federal grand jury in Virginia has refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud, sources say.
But in the past it wasn’t necessary because, as the saying went, you could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. The bar to indictment is incredibly low. So, it’s actually extremely embarrassing to have the media talking about how you keep trying and failing.
They generally don’t though because the burden to indict is SIGNFICANTLY lower than the burden to convict. Anyone that you cannot even get an indictment for isn’t likely to be convicted at trial.
Yeah, except that dealing with a legal defense costs a lot of time and money. So even if they can’t convict they can use the courts as a means to punish.
Really shows how much our legal system needs an overhaul to prevent abuse like this.
It makes sense though. It’s not an actual trial, just a test to see if the prosecution has strong enough evidence to support an indictment. If not, they keep digging.
While true, Federal prosecutors historically don’t even bother with charges if they’re not sure of a conviction. This is just explicit evidence that this DOJ is both incompetent and focused on politics not justice.
I only learned like last year that you can keep convening grand juries until you get one that indicts. Seems kind of strange to me
But in the past it wasn’t necessary because, as the saying went, you could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. The bar to indictment is incredibly low. So, it’s actually extremely embarrassing to have the media talking about how you keep trying and failing.
Edit: I should have said it was rarely necessary.
Ahh… To live in a time where “shame” was a thing again…
Not just keep trying and failing, but doing so multiple times in just a couple months. This DOJ is run by incompetence.
They generally don’t though because the burden to indict is SIGNFICANTLY lower than the burden to convict. Anyone that you cannot even get an indictment for isn’t likely to be convicted at trial.
Yeah, except that dealing with a legal defense costs a lot of time and money. So even if they can’t convict they can use the courts as a means to punish.
Really shows how much our legal system needs an overhaul to prevent abuse like this.
There’s no defense at a grand jury hearing. So at least that’s free. Likely not stress free.
There’s no defense at a grand jury.
It makes sense though. It’s not an actual trial, just a test to see if the prosecution has strong enough evidence to support an indictment. If not, they keep digging.
While true, Federal prosecutors historically don’t even bother with charges if they’re not sure of a conviction. This is just explicit evidence that this DOJ is both incompetent and focused on politics not justice.
Yeah, 100% the system is being abused. But like the Comey thing, they still need to follow the right procedures or it will backfire.