Comment on After killings by police, a debate over grand jury secrecy

After killings by police, a debate over grand jury secrecy

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week proposed a limited lifting of the grand jury veil when police kill unarmed civilians, and this week a New York City judge will consider whether to release transcripts of a grand jury's investigation into Eric Garner's chokehold death. The district attorney in Ferguson, Missouri, took the unusual step last month of letting the public read grand jury transcripts in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. "Secrecy only breeds suspicion," says New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, who has joined civil rights advocates and others in petitioning a Staten Island judge to release grand jury transcripts in the Garner case. Grand jurors consider only whether there's probable cause to bring criminal charges, not whether there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt to merit conviction. Besides safeguarding witnesses, confidentiality allows for investigating people who might flee if they knew. District attorneys praised the proposal, and civil rights and defense advocates called it a helpful step — "a sliver of light," with more illumination needed, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman says.

 

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