Right_in_Viginia asks:
[[ Is there such a thing as a hung grand jury? ]]
The Ferguson grand jury isn't hung.
They have a "decision", but are afraid to make it public.
The decision is that there will be no bill against Darren Wilson.
I sense the struggle in the grand jury chambers is between the jury and the prosecutors as to how to craft their findings in order to make them more palatable for release.
They realize what they must do is going to cause considerable pain and damage in their community and in the nation-at-large, and can't seem to find the intestinal fortitude to "do what must be done", like it or not.
(Aside: in some ways this parallels the incoming Republican Congress, which like the grand jurors will struggle between doing what is right and what is expedient.)
If they had decided to indict officer Wilson, it would over and done, just like that, and they'd be walkin' right outta there.
I'm not a lawyer (though a long long time ago I had some legal training, mostly forgotten), but I don't think there can be such thing as a "hung grand jury" in any case. The grand jury either recommends an indictment, or it does not. If this grand jury doesn't indict, I don't think it's possible to convene another, at least using the same evidence. That might constitute "double jeopardy", clearly against the Constitution.
So my guess is they know they can't indict the officer on what was both proper police procedure AND self-defense.
They just can't find the words to say that...
