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A man who would not give his name holds a sign Thursday referring to unreleased body-camera footage taken during a police shooting that injured several bystanders in a crowd July 17 in Denver.  

A man who would not give his name holds a sign Thursday referring to unreleased body-camera footage taken during a police shooting that injured several bystanders in a crowd July 17 in Denver.  

DENVER • Tuesday, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann made the rare decision to call a grand jury to investigate last month’s Lower Downton officer-involved shooting in which six bystanders were injured as they left bars at closing time.

McCann said the grand jury was necessary because of the high amount of public interest in the case.

Since this is only the third time in 30 years that a Denver grand jury has been launched to decide the culpability of police officers in an OIS, The Denver Gazette has put together a primer to understand what is next in the process.

A grand jury in Colorado is a group of citizens who are called to determine whether a criminal suspect should be charged with a crime. Grand jurors selected in Colorado “sit” for a one-year term. That one-year term can be extended to finish a case, according to Denver DA spokesperson Carolyn Tyler.

Grand juries make their decision based on what the prosecutor presents. It’s been said that because the grand jury only sees evidence from the prosecutor’s case with no defense or defendant present, that grand juries “will indict a ham sandwich.”

There are major differences between a grand jury investigation and a jury trial. Grand juries must find there is enough evidence to establish probable cause in order to charge someone whereas a trial jury must meet a higher standard: proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Grand juries make charging decisions. Trial juries are responsible for convictions.

A Colorado grand jury panel consists 12 people. A quorum of nine of 12 votes are needed to establish that there is enough evidence presented for probable cause.

Grand juries are held in private and the suspect is usually not present. Trials are open to the public and the defendant has a right to be in the courtroom.

Grand juries are like a one-sided trial because only the prosecutor presents evidence. There is no defense attorney present.

If the grand jury decides that probable cause exists to charge the defendant with a crime, then it issues a “true bill.” If the grand jury returns a true bill and the DA signs it, that will be announced as an “indictment.”

If the grand jury does not find probable cause in the case, then a “no true bill” is issued and the panel can issue a report pursuant to statute. That report is usually written by the DA and it’s the grand jury judge’s decision whether or not to release it. Former 20th Judicial District Attorney Stan Garnett explained that “If the DA never presents a charge or if the grand jury returns a “no true bill” we may never know what happened.

If any of the three officers in the LoDo shooting are indicted, then a police investigation into the shooting incident is put on hold, according to former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, who said that the internal police investigation will “start up again after the criminal case is resolved.” Similarly, if there is no true bill then the police investigation will begin.

After the grand jury’s determination, the investigation into possible misconduct by the three officers is long from complete. In an email, Denver police told The Denver Gazette that a sergeant from the Denver police Internal Affairs Bureau will present the incident to the Use of Force Review Board, which is made up of members of the community, command officers and a member of another Colorado law enforcement agency. If Chief Paul Pazen and the Use of Force Board find policy violations then the case is investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau and sent to the Conduct Review Bureau to determine which policies were violated. The Independent Monitor oversees this phase. From there, the investigation is presented to the Executive Director of Safety for a final determination on potential discipline. Finally, there may be additional review by the Use of Force Board which may ask for the Tactics Review Board to give the incident any additional review to determine if policies, training and tactics need to be modified.

Neither Stan Garnett (nine years in Boulder’s 20th Judicial District) nor Mitch Morrissey (12 years in Denver’s 2nd Judicial District) ever called a grand jury into police involved shootings while they were their district’s top prosecutor. Both said that they preferred to write an open letter as opposed to launching their grand juries specifically because of their secretive nature.

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