Are the latest Trump ‘resistance’ efforts happening at the grand jury level? A streak of rejected indictments in the nation’s capital is raising eyebrows and seemingly disproving the old adage that a grand jury will indict even a ham sandwich.
A series of giddy headlines over the last few weeks have celebrated federal prosecutors’ failures to secure grand jury indictments in Washington, D.C., after the Trump administration took control of local policing.
The Atlantic proclaimed, “Trump’s crime crackdown isn’t holding up in court.” Reuters declared, “U.S. prosecutors fail three times to secure indictment in FBI assault case.” CBS cheered, “D.C. grand jurors reject latest wave of Justice Department indictment requests.”
In recent weeks, prosecutors have failed to get indictments at least seven times across five cases. A D.C. grand jury even declined to indict the now-fired Department of Justice employee who threw a Subway sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer in a moment that went viral after it was caught on camera by a bystander.
What’s Going On?
Such failures are exceedingly rare, as federal grand juries almost always hand prosecutors the indictments they seek. So, what’s going on in Washington, D.C.? On Friday’s AM Update, attorney and Article 3 Project founder Mike Davis explained what he believes is behind the lack of cooperation.
“I mean, it’s extremely rare for grand jury proceedings to fail in normal jurisdictions, but we’re dealing with the District of Columbia that voted 95 percent against President Trump,” Davis explained. “The District of Columbia, that’s full of criminals and bureaucrats and people who hate Trump… and so they would rather let their city go to hell… than be seen as supporting President Trump’s law enforcement crackdown that’s making D.C. safe for all Americans, particularly for black D.C. residents in southeast and northeast, for example, who are the victims of this crime.”
As U.S. District Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro has been instructing prosecutors to seek the maximum penalties where allowed to clean up the streets and to deter future criminals, critics have called these failed indictments the result of the justice system going too far and a ‘silent protest’ by D.C. residents opposed to what some see as federal overreach.
Davis noted the D.C. jury pool had no problem indicting more than 1,500 people in connection with January 6. Even those who simply walked into the Capitol, took a look around, and then peacefully left were slapped with felony charges so overreaching, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually intervened to rein them in.
“How the Biden Justice Department and these D.C. judges persecuted these people is unacceptable, and they gave amnesty to the much more deadly and destructive BLM and Antifa rioters,” he said. “So it’s very clear that our system in D.C. is so politicized. If you trespass into the Capitol and take selfies, you go to prison for a long time after January 6. But if you assault a federal law enforcement officer, you don’t even get charged.”
Alternate Options
In order for the feds to bring criminal charges, a grand jury must agree there is enough evidence to move forward. If prosecutors cannot secure an indictment, options are limited. “You have to indict criminals in the district where the crime occurred unless the defendant waives that. That’s part of our Constitution,” Davis acknowledged. “And so it makes it very difficult when the grand jury is not indicting criminals.”
But there are options. “You can still bring misdemeanors against these people who are attacking officers,” Davis said. “If the grand jury doesn’t want to return felony indictments, then charge these criminals with misdemeanors and make them go through the process.”
And he believes forcing a defendant to navigate the legal system can be a form of punishment in and of itself. “I always say that even if, at the end of the day, these deranged juries are going to find these criminals guilty, make these criminals still go through the process,” Davis concluded. “Make the process the punishment.”
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