Key West The Newspaper

Commentary by Naja Girard…….

“This allows the prosecutor to say I didn’t take the decision.  The Grand Jury did it.  The people did it.  But of course, how vigorously the prosecutor presents the case is everything.  It’s just the prosecutor presenting a case to these Grand Jurors.  If the DA doesn’t want an indictment or has questions it could be a very different thing.”

–       Dan Abrams, “Nightline” anchor and Chief Legal Affairs anchor for ABC News, when speaking about the Grand Jury proceedings in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO.

The Grand Jury’s Final Report was released this afternoon.  All Key West police officers involved in the death of Charles Eimers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

So, how “vigorously” did our State Attorney present the case for excessive force?

As we know, State Attorney, Catherine Vogel chose not to conduct her own independent investigation.  Instead, she had her assistant prosecutors Val Winter and Mark Wilson present FDLE’s findings to the Grand Jury, but announced on US 1 radio and in a press release that any other witnesses, who felt the urge to spontaneously come forward, could do so. This resulted in a few more witnesses coming forward – witnesses who had been found and urged to come forward by The Blue Paper and the Eimers family’s attorneys, Darren Horan and David Paul Horan.

What about the New York cop and his companions?  The one who Southernmost Beach Cafe employees say exclaimed that they were witnessing “legalized murder on the beach” that fatal Thanksgiving morning? Apparently, they did not just mosey into the Grand Jury room, as Ms. Vogel would have had them do.

So, who DID State Attorney Catherine Vogel go out of her way to bring in as a witness?    Enter, Chuck Joyner, a retired FBI agent and police officers’ [defense] expert witness.  A man who earns a living contracting with law enforcement agencies to train police officers and testify on their behalf in excessive force proceedings.  The same Chuck Joyner who publicly defended the actions of a Houston, Texas police officer who shot and killed a mentally ill double amputee because he was waving around a silver ballpoint pen.

Joyner testified that in his opinion KWPD officers could have appropriately used more force than they did to subdue Mr. Eimers.    Well, well, you don’t say.

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To access all Blue Paper coverage on the death of Charles Eimers click here.

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