I am really tired of seeing the function of the Grand Jury be misrepresented to imply that the failure to recommend for indicting Darren Wilson somehow means Darren Wilson has been exonerated.
The Ferguson Grand Jury had 12 members: Six white men, three white women, two black women and one black man.
A vote for indictment requires nine of those people to vote in the affirmative. Nine.
In other words, unlike trial juries, Grand Juries do not require a unanimous vote.
For all we know, eight Grand Jury members voted for indictment and four voted against. But we don’t know and we will probably never know because releasing that information could show just how much of a farce this dog and pony show really is.
9:11 AM PT: To update my last sentence, Grand Jury votes are secret. The rest of this diary stands. We are barking up the wrong tree in trying to argue the evidence. We need to be arguing the facts of Grand Juries.