Editorial: Opening Up Grand Juries

The suggestion by the state’s Chief Judge, Jonathan Lippman, last week that judges be given a greater role in the grand-jury system to restore public confidence in the wake of a questionable decision by a Staten Island panel in December not to indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in connection with the death of Eric Garner could have difficulty gaining approval in the State Legislature.

One argument against it is that there aren’t that many cases in which grand juries have opted not to produce criminal charges against cops where evidence seemed to warrant it, especially when it is video evidence that appeared compelling of Officer Pantaleo applying an NYPD-banned chokehold to bring Mr. Garner to the ground and then mashing his face into the pavement even amid cries of “I can’t breathe!”