Grand jury in Tamir Rice case never actually voted on the charges

Last edited Wed Jan 20, 2016, 11:35 PM - Edit history (1)

By Kerry Eleveld

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/20/1472632/-Grand-jury-in-Tamir-Rice-case-never-actually-voted-on-the-charges



The grand jury that chose not to indict the two Cleveland officers implicated in the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice never took a vote on whether to move forward. After "two days of calls" to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, here’s what the Cleveland Scene found out about the case involving officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback:

What actually happened in the most significant grand jury hearing in county history isn't quite clear, and the mechanism by which the grand jury "declined to indict" — in Prosecutor Timothy McGinty's own words — is equally unclear.

At the conclusion of a typical grand jury hearing, there are two possible outcomes achieved via vote: a "true bill," which results in criminal charges and a case number in the court system, or a "no bill," which is a decision not to bring charges. A "no-bill notification" is signed and stamped and kept on record at the county clerk's office.

Though Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty never explicitly said the grand jury voted not to indict — nor did he utter the phrase "no bill" — in his Dec. 28 press conference, he declared that that grand jury had declined to indict.

Reportedly, that "no-bill notification" never materialized and that's because it doesn't even exist.

Tuesday, Scene spoke with Joe Frolik, the communications director for the Prosecutor's Office, who said no no-bill record exists because, "it's technically not a no-bill, because they didn't vote on charges."

He elaborated: “This was an investigative grand jury. This was kind of their role. Sometimes, a grand jury, after its investigation, will decide if there are no votes to be taken on charges.”

We’ll continue to track this story as more details emerge.