With this confusing story it seems that the Grand Jury is done for the month, and won't meet again for another month. There were no indictments. My UNDERSTANDING is that the Grand Jury has to be empaneled to issue the indictments, and if they're done, and there are none, no one knows even now who to indict and for what. That is frankly amazing. Alan Futrell seems as confused about it as I am.
The San Angelo Standard-Times - ELDORADO - "With today's meeting of the Schleicher County grand jury at an end, no indictments have been issued and the panel has agreed to meet again July 22.
Alan Fatrell (sic?), the criminal defense attorney for the 16-year-old daughter of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leader Warren Jeffs, told reporters earlier in the afternoon that the grand jury would call one more witness before recessing until July 22. However, he said he did not know whether the continuation means the panel will not issue any indictments until that date."
Unless a Grand Jury can have a PHONE conference and issue indictments this turned out to be one big wet firecracker. That in and of itself should be a major news story across the country in the MSM. They can't even get a Grand Jury in their own home town to tell them what they think might have happened, when they are SPOON FEEDING them the "Evidence." My only guess is they were trying to gather evidence against Warren Jeffs, otherwise unless and indictment comes out, Walthers looks like a complete moron and hack.
UPDATE: It's probably fair to say we don't like each other much but I have no reason to think that "Texas Blues Man" over at "Coram Non Judice" is SUBSTANTIALLY wrong about this one, so I'll pass his answer along to you about Grand Juries in Texas;
"Hugh, the GJ is still technically in session, and they serve for the term of the court. In this case, the term ends on September 30th, so a quorum (9 jurors) can meet at any time between now and then.
If they decide to indict, the DA will prepare the indictment and the foreman will sign it.
Conceivably, the GJ could have indicted some today, and it is merely waiting for the copy for the foreman to sign, but more likely it will be ready for signature in July.
They can meet at any time until the end of the term, but usually will meet once a month or so - more often if needed.
Also, the term of the GJ can be extended for 90 days if needed.
Finally, if the indictments were sealed, they could already be issued and they are just waiting to serve them."
There were no indictments today, signed or unsigned by the foreman. That is unless news reports are wrong and about such technical details they usually are not in this case. I have no reason to suspect that the San Angelo Standard-Times got it wrong. This does mean that Barbara can call a quorum of the GJ at any time including tomorrow and get an indictment issued. The last time the GJ met they handed down 18 sealed indictments right away but the indictments were said to have nothing to do with the YFZ case so I doubt that there are any sealed indictments.
IMHO the failure to hand down any indictments in this case indicates it's extreme weakness. It would sound like the DA and the Judge were trolling today, trying to find something on which to build a case.
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment