Threat of Comey Indictment Shows Need for Grand Jury Reform.
Prosecutors should no longer be able to ramrod thru a suggested indictment with federal grand juries.
The defense never gets a say before a grand jury due to the long-standing practice of grand jury secrecy.
But federal grand juries continue to be used by federal prosecutors to financially harm defendants even when the chance of a conviction is low and plea bargains end up being used on lessor charges such as perjury after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at a defendant.
Lt. Col. Oliver North (even after being granted immunity from Congress), Scooter Libby and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (2nd time around after convictions failed on nearly every count the first time around) have all been victims of over zealous prosecutors.
And now Il Duce is ordering the prosecution of former FBI director James Comey and other political enemies.
This needs to stop.
There should be a federally-appointed advocate for the target of a potential grand jury indictment - even if the target doesn't know it. The federal judiciary should make the appointments by SCOTUS or the Court of Appeals. The advocate would sit in on all proceedings. That way grand juries can hear an argument against indictments being sought by prosecutors.
And if Republicans in Congress truly want a "loser pays" legal system, they can first start by applying it to federal indictments.
If a non-guilty verdict is reached in a trial, the advocate can be called to testify if prosecutors abused the grand jury system. Such tactics are often recommending dozens of charges in order to bully the grand jury into compromising and agreeing to indictments on some charges.
The "Founding Fathers" could never have invisioned that the American "justice" system would be perverted in such a way that bankrupting a defendant is now the goal instead of seeking the truth.
The defense never gets a say before a grand jury due to the long-standing practice of grand jury secrecy.
But federal grand juries continue to be used by federal prosecutors to financially harm defendants even when the chance of a conviction is low and plea bargains end up being used on lessor charges such as perjury after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at a defendant.
Lt. Col. Oliver North (even after being granted immunity from Congress), Scooter Libby and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (2nd time around after convictions failed on nearly every count the first time around) have all been victims of over zealous prosecutors.
And now Il Duce is ordering the prosecution of former FBI director James Comey and other political enemies.
This needs to stop.
There should be a federally-appointed advocate for the target of a potential grand jury indictment - even if the target doesn't know it. The federal judiciary should make the appointments by SCOTUS or the Court of Appeals. The advocate would sit in on all proceedings. That way grand juries can hear an argument against indictments being sought by prosecutors.
And if Republicans in Congress truly want a "loser pays" legal system, they can first start by applying it to federal indictments.
If a non-guilty verdict is reached in a trial, the advocate can be called to testify if prosecutors abused the grand jury system. Such tactics are often recommending dozens of charges in order to bully the grand jury into compromising and agreeing to indictments on some charges.
The "Founding Fathers" could never have invisioned that the American "justice" system would be perverted in such a way that bankrupting a defendant is now the goal instead of seeking the truth.
36-40, F
