1/ During his press conference, Cameron suggested the grand jury made the legal determination: "My job is to present the facts to the grand jury and the grand jury then applies those facts to the law."
Today he concedes that his team recommended the charges to the grand jury.
2/ During the press conference, Cameron was specifically asked whether his team made a recommendation to the grand jury, and he refused to answer the question because grand jury proceedings are secret.
That's true. But what he said next was highly misleading.
3/ The next sentence out of his mouth was: "What I will say is that we presented all of the information and they ultimately made a determination about whether to charge."
His words suggest that his team neutrally laid out the evidence and that the jury decided on its own.
4/ That's not who grand juries typically work. Usually the prosecutor presents facts but don't include points that a defense attorney would make if the defense was able to participate.
Then the prosecutor recommends charges and explains why the evidence supports those charges.
5/ I don't fault Cameron's team for using the grand jury in the same way that prosecutors typically do.
But it sure looks like he misled the public by suggesting that his team merely presented facts and the jury figured out on its own what charges were supported under the law.
6/ If it weren't for a brave grand juror who came forward, we wouldn't know that Cameron deceived the public.
I'm interested in hear that recording. What's there was so troubling that a grand juror felt compelled to come forward, which I've never heard of before. /end
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