re: Deputies arrest 4 in LSU student Madison Brooks case

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Grand jury results today or tomorrow, you think?

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This is a near impossible question to answer with any degree of accuracy. Far too many unknown factors. And in the unlikely event Hillar Moore, his ADAs, a perp (if testifying) or a current grand juror hearing testimony runs his or her mouth, I think the penalties are pretty severe.

How long does it take to impanel a Grand Jury? How long do jury instructions typically take? How many witnesses are the Prosecution questioning? To what depth? How long will the jury deliberate? I don't know the answer to any of these questions.

My father was on a JP Grand Jury many years ago. They met like once a week for something like three months, as I recall. He heard several unrelated cases.

TLDR answer: I don't know and the only people who may know can't talk about it.

(no message)

Six months?

For a new case each time they met?

I wanted to say my dad was also on for six months, but I thought I must be misremebering and didn't want to get skewered on here!

I'm fairly sure Jefferson Parish Grand Juries met on Mondays, but I do know they met one day a week. He was also on in the '90s (I think). Paul Connick was DA at the time and he had a competent, friendly staff.

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Just saying…if someone is too drunk to consent, that same standard applies to males as well.

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It does not apply to the perpetrator of a crime - intoxication is not a defense to commission of a crime

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Well shite, I guess all one has to do is get drunk and they can go rob banks with no chance of being held responsible. “But your honor, I didn’t know what I was doing at the time! Honest!”

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So you are blaming Miss Brooks for this?

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ell_13


How did you get to that question?

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I'll try to be polite. My guess is he must be "mentally challenged".

Do you think the press this is getting will help see that the two are indicted and eventually convicted?

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Do you think the press this is getting will help see that the two are indicted and eventually convicted?

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1). Likely, it already has. Washington has at least two new charges from prior rapes. Each of those is a victim who had not come forward before this highly publicized event. So Washington faces charges he likely would not have had but for the publicity.

This was a risk the defense attorneys took when they decided to go hard in the first days. We will see how it works out for them in other ways. It does not seem to have helped Washington looking at the scoreboard at this moment.

2) In this case, I think publicity makes a trial more likely. Reasoning follows.

3). Most cases plead. Most DAs consult the victim’s family before offering a plea. No family wants to see and hear the kind of things this family has seen and heard in the media. Before all the publicity, I’d bet a hard-earned dollar the family would have agreed to a plea deal to avoid having this plastered over international news. But now? The damage is done, and you can’t unring the bell.

Again, this was a risk the defense took when it went all in on its media strategy. That strategy was wildly successful in getting attention. But did it help their clients?

4). The publicity hurts Carver, I think. Like it or not, agree with it or not (and in full disclosure, I do), black people mistrust the justice system. I think Redd Fox once quipped that he went to the courthouse looking for justice, and that’s what he found, “just us.”

Now read carefully here. This isn’t going in the direction you might think. I’m not talking about jury pools. That comes later.

If the DA pleaded out the only white guy and sought the max against others, that would reinforce the narrative that the criminal justice system favors white people over black people.

Now here’s the rub. In any other case, Carver is the one you’d want to plead out. He was the driver. If you believe Ron Haley, he refused to engage in sex. He is an eyeball witness who came in early and cooperated. He is the poster child of witnesses to flip.

But with this publicity, I don’t think you can.

5). It will affect the jury pool in a way. Lots of potential jurors have made up their mind. If you seat a jury in EBR, it will likely have fewer college educated people, more rural people, and fewer people with a connection to LSU. Remember that there are folks out there who have never heard of Tigerland.

6). It will not affect the jury in the “OJ” way. Hilar Moore is not Gil Garcetti. Baton Rouge is not LA. And, as I’ve said many times, the Simpson verdict was a prosecutor problem, not a rogue jury.

That’s first cup of coffee thoughts. There’s going to be a second cup of coffee thought for you podcasters. Stand by.