Something smelled fishy about this since day one, and it looks like a Grand Jury agreed. These days I’m always reluctant to jump on bandwagons, because it’s harder and harder to discern what really happened, and what the motivations are of people driving the bandwagon. So to some degree you have to fall back to having faith in the justice system to do the right thing. The problem is I had a hard time typing that with a straight face.
In this case, it may be that the officer made a horrible mistake, and he will have to explain himself before a jury, just like any of us would under the same circumstances. Remember Prof. Joe Olson’s report about his encounter with this department. I will hope that all the facts come out at trial, that the jury is wise and objective, and that justice will be done. Mr. Castile deserves no less.
No grand jury was empaneled. The prosecutor decided to indict on his own:
Seems he was afraid the grand jury might not indict.
http://kstp.com/news/philando-castile-fatal-shooting-case-update-charges-police-officer-jeronimo-yanez/4319592/
If so, good on him not passing the buck.
Good to see. It definitely looked fishy, and putting this in front of a jury is the right thing to do.
Olson, not Olsen.
Fixed. I didn’t mean to make him into a Dane :)