There is something to what murat states above, but consider the alternative. The majority of indictments for crimes is based on what is called an information--the prosecutor decides whether to proceed forward with criminal charges and then there is an arraignment and probable cause hearing before a judge. The decision to file an information or not is the unsung sometimes heroic task of a prosecutor--there is immense power rested in one person, as opposed to twelve in a grand jury. It too is fraught with polemic and controversy. Imagine if the prosecutor did NOT submit this to a grand jury (Ferguson or Garner in NYC) and decided the evidence was not sufficient to meet probable cause? It would be much worse, IMHO. Then again, there are cases where the information is filed on flimsy evidence and court time and resources are wasted as the case drags on and it gets thrown out by a judge on a pre-trial motion or the jury returns a not guilty verdict on a matter that never should have been filed in the first place--but the pressure and expectation stirred up by the media causes such a case to be filed.
People will riot and protest regardless of the result--for some, they are like fascists or communists. The verdict is what they think it is regardless of evidence. Look at Ferguson--the idiots who claimed his hands were up and that he was shot in the back are completely full of it. The physical evidence is overwhelming in showing he was shot while tussling with the officer at the police car door and later was killed while moving towards the officer--not one shot was through the back!!! Then five or six black folk (all the alleged eyewitnesses were black other than the officer) say they could not understand why the young man charged at the officer--which is consistent with the blood trail. You got guys with arrest records changing their story three times and it is no wonder no criminal charges were filed.
Now look at the Cleveland shooting of the 12 year old. If you are going to charge an officer with a crime like murder or manslaughter, you have to look at what he was dealing with on that call. The dispatcher INEXPLICABLY failed to tell the officer that the caller had said it might be a toy gun or looked like a toy gun. Instead, the officer hears of a black youth "who looks to be about twenty" pointing a gun at people on a playground. Now, with that being the call, what officer would not show up ready to draw a weapon and be ready for a problem? This young boy, unfortunately, looked far older--just like young Trayvon Martin in that Zimmerman case a couple years ago. At any rate, that is a tragedy and although a civil suit will be a winner, I question whether it was criminal based on the evidence that has come to light. Yet--and here is the Martin connection--the media continues to stir the pot by posting youthful pictures of the boy like they did with Trayvon years ago. Trayvon Martin looked like a man when he got into it with Zimmerman, not some child. Neither did this tragically killed boy in Cleveland, according to the bystander who phoned in the matter to dispatch. That has to be taken into account when you judge putting away an officer for life or many years. What frosts me is when the media--in constantly trying to whip up the populace for their ratings--intentionally mislead people by showing different photographs than what victims looked like on the day of the incident or choose to obfuscate key facts. Why else would they choose to use a picture the parents gave them from three or four years earlier and constantly post it as if the cop killed an eight year old?!?!?!
At the end of the day, many of these officers are going to lose (and their employers) in civil suits, but criminal charges are difficult, sometimes impossible. I personally feel that there could have been a criminal negligent homicide charge against the officers in Staten Island--not for the choke-hold take-down, that was permissible under the circumstances--but for not immediately responding to his distress calls about not being able to breathe. They ought to have immediately rendered aid, stopped keeping him down and helped him. It takes only a minute to get into serious trouble. That was saddening to watch play out.
