I'm an attorney, but not a criminal law attorney. My understanding is that the grand jury process is very often used to issue indictments in major crimes. But the predicate for indictment is that
a crime occurred at all. This is legally a DIFFERENT question from "was there an excusable defense to the crime that occurred?" which is a question for the trial. But there can't - and shouldn't - be a trial if there was no crime committed in the first place, and making that determination is the job of the grand jury - in order to provide more guidance to the prosecutor. My understanding is that the filter of the grand jury is much in favor of indictment
when there was clearly a crime committed, which is the usual case. That filter is "is there probably cause to believe that the suspect did the crime?"
The NYTimes released the documents and evidence considered in the grand jury proceedings, as well as transcripts of the proceedings.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/25/us/evidence-released-in-michael-brown-case.html?_r=0
And this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/u...charged-at-darren-wilson-prosecutor-says.html
The most credible eyewitnesses to the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., said he had charged toward Police Officer Darren Wilson just before the final, fatal shots, the St. Louis County prosecutor said Monday night as he sought to explain why a grand jury had not found probable cause to indict the officer.
The accounts of several other witnesses from the Ferguson neighborhood where Mr. Brown, 18 and unarmed, met his death on Aug. 9 — including those who said Mr. Brown was trying to surrender — changed over time or were inconsistent with physical evidence, the prosecutor, Robert P. McCulloch, said in a news conference.
“The duty of the grand jury is to separate fact and fiction,” he said in a statement watched by a tense nation. “No probable cause exists to file any charges against Darren Wilson.”
Mr. McCulloch praised the grand jurors, who met on 25 days over a three-month period and heard 60 witnesses, for pouring “their hearts and souls into this process” and said that only by hearing all the evidence, as they had, could one fairly judge the case.
The task facing the St. Louis County grand jury was not to determine whether Officer Darren Wilson was guilty of a crime, but whether there was evidence to justify bringing charges, which could have ranged from negligent manslaughter to intentional murder.
The fact that at least nine members of the 12-member panel could not agree to indict the officer indicates that they accepted the narrative of self-defense put forth by Officer Wilson in his voluntary, four hours of testimony before the grand jury. Mr. McCulloch, in his summary of the months of testimony, said it was supported by the most reliable eyewitness accounts — from African-Americans in the vicinity of the shooting — as well as physical evidence and the consistent results of three autopsies.
I'm a little unsure of this last highlighted statement - it can be read to presuppose that a crime occurred, and I'm not sure that is technically the process. The media has not helped the public understand this process.
