As Trump cracks down on D.C. crime, grand juries emerge as a check on overreach : NPR

Juana Summers, host:

Something unusual takes place behind closed doors here in Washington, the people who are used for large juries reject the government’s arguments. Carrie Johnson de NPR explains.

Carrie Johnson, Byline: During the last month, the great DC juries refused to charge the accused at least seven times. This almost never happens because prosecutors exercise almost total control over the Grand Jury procedures. Robert Cindrich is a federal retired judge in Pennsylvania.

Robert Cindrich: Keep in mind that only the prosecutor is in the room. The only proof that the jury hears is that the accusation gives them.

Johnson: And the Grand Jury must find a probable cause that a person has violated the law, and not proof beyond reasonable doubt. Kevin Flynn continued cases of violent crimes and homicide in DC, from 1987.

Kevin Flynn: So I was at the office for 35 years, and one of my friends was at the office for 25 years, so 60 years of combined experience. We compared the notes last week. He never had any cases without the big jury, and I had one.

Johnson: Flynn says that the discharges of the great juries now represent a failure of the discretionary power of prosecution. Prosecutors can invoice practically all the crimes that come to their attention, but they generally relate to judgments on how to use their resources – decisions at the start of cases to die for, in a process called Papering.

Flynn: I understand that the American lawyer ordered the prosecutors of this paper office in each case that the police brought, who, by the way, is prima facie asinine.

Johnson: The big juries operate in secret. Professor Paul Butler of Georgetown Law Center says that there are some reasons why they can resist.

Paul Butler: Either the jurors thought that the prosecutors had not even proven the low level of probable cause, or it could be more embarrassed by what the government has done that what the defendant is accused of doing.

Johnson: These rejection of the great jury began to perform at the time when President Trump jumped federal agents and national guard troops in the city. Take the case of Sean Charles Dunn, the former worker of the Ministry of Justice accused of having thrown a metro sandwich on a federal immigration agent. He was accused of criminal assault by an agent of the police, who brought up to eight years in prison. The great jury did not buy it. Again, Paul Butler.

Butler: This crime requires the prosecutor to prove an intention to kill or seriously harm a sandwich that is launched to you. Come on.

Johnson: Dunn will not go down without Scottish. He now faces an accusation of offense, which transports up to a year in prison. In recent days, it has become a symbol of resistance in the district. Dunn posters throwing a sub-Sandwich have arisen through the city. During the morning race on the 14th street this week, people stopped to watch street art, but they did not want to share their last name for fear of reprisals. Ashley, who lived in DC over eight years, had a fan.

Ashley: Yes, I don’t know. It’s a – it’s just an excellent reminder that you know, small acts of rebellion can help.

Johnson: Jackie stopped to look at her way to grocery store. She lives at DC for 60 years, and she does not think that the presence of the National Guard here is necessary. But she says that playing against the police is not the answer.

Jackie: I don’t think the police deserve it, you know? Say what you mean about them, but I don’t think we should mistreat them.

Johnson: American lawyer Jeanine Pirro told NPR in a press release, quotes: “The system here is broken on several levels.” Pirro says that the juries have been politicized, refusing to indicate the accused of threatening President Trump and, according to Pirro, of refusing to respect their oath to follow the law. The retirement judge Cindrich says, from the outside, it seems that the judicial system works as it should.

Cindrich: The citizen, in the end, in the American justice system, is the final arbitrator.

Johnson: Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

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