6 Reasons Why It’s Nearly Impossible to Indict a Police Officer

Many State Statutes Are Vague About Using Deadly Force Most state statutes are very vaguely worded when it comes to outlining when an officer can or can’t use deadly force. Many statutes say that if officers “reasonably believe” it is necessary for them to use deadly force, they have the right to do so. Others state that an officer has the right to use deadly force in order to make an arrest or if the suspect “attempted to commit a felony.” Such wording will pretty much protect almost any officer if his or her use of excessive force is brought into question. Federal Statutes Are Just as Vague Federal statutes don’t tend to be any better than state ones. While federal law actually prohibits officers from firing at fleeing suspects (a fact many prosecutors avoid bringing up when presenting their cases to a grand jury), a 1985 Supreme Court ruling created the standard that an officer has the right to resort to deadly force if the officer has “probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury” to other officers or bystanders. Prosecutors Are Typically Very Close to Officers The process of getting an indictment against a police officer relies heavily on how the prosecutor presents the case, and most of the time prosecutors are presenting the case with the intent to get the officer off the hook. Prosecutors typically have very close relationships with law enforcement, and this leads to what many say is a matter of “police policing the police.” Even Seth Morris, a Washington Post contributor and deputy public defender in Alameda County, California, explained that it would have been easy to get an indictment against Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in the death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, if the prosecutor really wanted to do so. Department Regulations Are Not Considered Law After Eric Garner’s death, the public felt a grand jury wouldn't have a choice but to indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo after he placed the Staten Island father in a New York Police Department-prohibited chokehold. The fact that the maneuver was illegal was enough to lead to an indictment. The only problem is that the maneuver isn’t actually illegal; it’s just prohibited by the department. Since the potentially fatal maneuver is not considered illegal, as far as the grand jury is concerned the officer didn’t do anything wrong. As far as the department’s investigation of an officer using a banned maneuver, such a violation often results in nothing more than a fine or a few days on leave. Burden of Intent to Harm Any legal expert will tell you that one of the trickiest things to do is prove intent in any case. Even when an officer is caught on camera, there may not be enough for a grand jury to say the officer intended to harm the suspect. And with many officers resorting to self-defense claims, they automatically imply that they had no intention of hurting the suspect. In other words, unless an officer is on camera blatantly saying “I hope you die” as he chokes a suspect who is telling him he can’t breathe, the officer can still legally argue that he did not intend to actually harm anyone by using a banned maneuver or even by firing his gun. The Feds, Much Like Prosecutors, Only Take On Cases They Can Win For many families, taking the case to the federal level is their last chance to receive justice in police brutality cases. Unfortunately, the feds aren’t likely to take up many such cases, and, if they do, they almost immediately send messages to the public that they won’t likely come forward with any charges against the officer. In the midst of being picky about taking on cases that could prove to be too much hard work, feds also have political implications on their minds and are worried about election time. Politicians and their respective camps don’t want to obtain a reputation for being “anti-police” for fear that it will cause them to lose quite a bit of support at the polls.

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