Moving the Meat Along

“The Trial Before the Trial,” by Ernest Larsen, 2018

This is a hilarious and riveting account of one subject’s experience in the Grand Jury system in New York City.  It tells you all you need to know.  As a former member of the legal ‘fraternity’ it gives me the chills.

A Jury of your Peers...

If you thought Grand Jury’s were made up of permanent secret panels of rich white people who meet to dole out judgment constantly, you would not be far wrong.  But not rich and not permanent.  Instead here the ‘random’ jury selection process ends up with nearly all middle-class white people intent on following orders and ‘doing their duty,’ maybe for two weeks straight.  Larsen found himself on just such a jury for 8.5 days until he was, without precedent, accused of ‘contempt of court’ for asking too many questions and expressing his opinion in deliberations. 

Of most import, given the overwhelming prevalence of ‘plea bargains’ (no bargain!) in criminal cases, the only real trial IS the Grand Jury hearing.  In reality, it is a rubber-stamp for the prosecutor.  If every drug case went to a jury trial, the drug laws could not be enforced, given the volume of cases.  As we know from recent experience, Grand Jury’s almost never indict police for killing unarmed civilians, especially black or brown folks.  They have also recently been used against leftists like Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

This narrative touches on everything in the criminal justice system:

• The endless and massive drug war and its laws. 
• Black and brown people who are the overwhelming majority of legally unseen and unheard recipients of Grand Jury justice.
• The absence of any defense lawyer.
• Cops as almost the only witnesses.  Well rehearsed and covering for each other.  The jurors are instructed to believe them.
• Clueless and robotic white people on the Grand Jury.  Not a jury of peers.  Or as Larsen calls them “socially moribund.”
• A profusion of intimidating cops in the police-state courthouse.
• Dictatorial judges.
• The inability to ask open questions of the Grand Jury witnesses, except upon agreement of the prosecutor.
• The legal standard is: “…a reasonable cause to believe…” – which leaves the idea of ‘reasonable’ undefined.
• A ‘no discussion’ possibility before each vote to convict or acquit.
• The looming grim prison of Riker’s Island hovering in the background.  Chains and leg-irons are still used on black bodies.  It is, according to Larsen, the ‘largest penal colony on the planet.’
• Jurors are not supposed to know the consequences – the sentences – for any of the crimes in which they vote to convict.  Even though the laws are freely available on the internet.
• Setting up police street-corner drug buys is legal and not considered entrapment.
• The court system is one big jobs program for cops, lawyers, judges and clerks.  Even the Assistant DA’s dress in ‘uniforms.’

Grand Jury’s are included in the 5^th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and inherited from British law.  They are another example of the archaic and undemocratic nature of the U.S.’s founding documents.

One answer to the problems in a Grand Jury is ‘nullification,’ which allows a Grand Jury to follow its own conscience and understanding – if it has one.  This is even written into the Grand Jury guidebooks in the word ‘may,’ but is almost universally ignored – until Larsen took it upon himself to challenge the process from the inside.  In effect, the law – especially if the law or the punishments themselves are criminal, stupid or bad – does not need to be followed.

Taking on the frightening and Kafkesque legal system is intimidating, and Larsen takes you inside his efforts to make the proceedings more democratic and reasonable.  And, surprisingly, he has some success, which is when the criminal justice system tries to take its revenge.  Given Grand Jury proceedings are supposed to be secret, the publication of this book appears to jeopardize Larsen.  But the embarrassment of prosecuting him with a felony for writing this account might be more than the New York courts and judges can handle.

“Moving the meat along” is the phrase New York prosecutors use to describe the Grand Jury process.  Great stuff!  Read it before you get called.

Other posts relevant legal issues:  “Three Days in the Jury Pool,” reviews of 4 books by John Grisham and “A New Movement,” “Missoula,” “With Liberty and Justice for Some,” “Legal ‘Logic’ Behind Raids,” “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” “The Divide,” ’99 Homes,” “Eric Holder,” “Justice Department Brings Back Hoover.”

And I bought it at May Day Books!

Red Frog

August 15, 2018