“There cannot be a relationship. When the foreperson uses the word ‘we,’ that lets you know there’s a relationship there. When she says in interviews, ‘Certain battles were not worth us battling,’ it’s not the special purpose grand jury that’s litigating, it’s the district attorney’s office,” he said.
“We’ve lost 100 percent confidence in this process. We feel this process has been compromised,” Findling also said.
[This has been a jaw-dropping display from the grand-jury forewoman in Fulton County, GA. It’s unclear whether the implied relationship of “we” would be legally prohibited, but it certainly raises ethical questions about the grand jury’s independence — which is the value of grand juries in the first place. Prosecutors use them as a check on their own judgment, but more to establish the bona fides of indictments when questions of influence or partisanship may come into play. Kohrs not only negated that value, she made those questions even more acute for Fani Willis. — Ed]
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