Justice's Double Standard

[SuperScout]

A grand jury declined Friday to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney in connection with a confrontation in which she admitted hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering a House office building. The grand jury had been considering the case since shortly after the March 29 incident, which has led to much discussion on Capitol Hill about race and the conduct of lawmakers and the officers who protect them.

"We respect the decision of the grand jury in this difficult matter," said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein. His statement, released late Friday, also included support for the officer involved, Paul McKenna, and the Capitol Police. He said, "This is a tremendously difficult job, and it is one that Officer McKenna and his colleagues perform with the utmost professionalism and dignity."

With that, Wainstein closed a case that has simmered with racial and political tension. "I am relieved that this unfortunate incident is behind me," McKinney said in a statement Friday night. "I accept today's grand jury finding of 'no probable cause' as right and just and the proper resolution of this case."

The encounter began when McKinney, D-Ga., tried to enter a House office building without walking through a metal detector or wearing the lapel pin that identifies members of Congress. McKenna did not recognize her as a member of Congress and asked her three times to stop. When she ignored him, he tried to stop her. McKinney then hit him.

McKinney described the encounter as "racial profiling," insisting she had been assaulted and had done nothing wrong. McKinney is black. McKenna is white. She received little public support for that stance, even within the Congressional Black Caucus.

Wainstein, meanwhile, sought an indictment from a federal grand jury, with assault on a police officer mentioned in the filings as a possible charge. That is a felony that would require an indictment.

The grand jury then subpoenaed several House aides thought to have witnessed the encounter. McKenna, too, testified. The grand jury voted not to indict her. Prosecutors also could have charged McKinney with simple assault without having to seek an indictment.

Members of the black caucus privately urged McKinney to put the matter behind her. The next morning, she appeared on the House floor to apologize. "I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation, and I apologize," McKinney, D-Ga., said April 6. "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident."

[Seascamp]

There was no way the Grand Jury was going to deliver a true bill of indictment right from the get-go, that was a given. A lot of heat and no light Brownian motion goin down but I am pleased that the Cop didn?t get clapped in irons and sent to the dungeon; I rather expected that eventuality.
The Grand Jury findings are simply that there is no law against rude, unprofessional, arrogant and reactive childish behavior and the outburst was spontaneous and not intended.

Zo, the president set is that if we have a bad hair day and smack a Security Cop, it?s Ok, assuming some sacred cow requisites are established and proper remuneration changes hands.

In the next episode; the true life adventures in the Beltway jungle at the headwaters of the Ubangiemegoodtoo River, we?ll see another one jump slick, but considerably more remuneration ?gift giving? will have to take place to pull that scenario off.

Scamp

[Stick]

Hit the nail on the head Brice. "Double Standard" and don't you think of ever entering a Govt. Bldg., passing one of those security stations, asked to stop by security, smacking the sentry and continueing on 'cause someone's gonna pull a piece on you and make the request formal and Oh-fish-ell.
"Gee officer, I'm sorry but I thought you were just discriminating against us short people and someones gotta bring you up on charges."
The best thing that can happen to you is in a secure area for a couple of years but you can count your lucky stars, you could have gotten 9mm.

[Robert Ryan]

The laws of this nation do not pertain to politicans, they are above the law, this is an example of that. Time to change the laws so that everyone is equal under the law, rather than just saying it is.

[Jerry D]

What Robert stated so well ! ditto & Thanks Brice for passing on the conclusion of this sham of a grand jury finding.

[SuperScout]

Grand juries, and even regular trial juries, are not the final annunciator of innocence, but frequently a misguided mouthpiece of a manipulated system. Case in point: the jury in OJ Simpson's criminal trial. Playing to the Blacks on the jury, Johnnie Cochran won an acquital (not innocence, I repeat) by trotting the how ol' evil Massa done tried to railroad his client. But when his civil trial ended, there was no doubt who killed whom when the jury found for the plaintiffs.

While not knowing the racial composition of the grand jury in DC, by simple virtue of the ethnicity of the city, I'll wager that a majority of Blacks sat on the panel. And once again, ol' evil Massa became the oppressor, whilst the jukebox played a looping version of "Let My People Go."

The abiding message conveyed to anyone who cares to listen is that "rude, unprofessional, arrogant and reactive childish behavior" as so aptly written by Seascamp, becomes the norm. God help us.