WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty influenced a grand jury to arrange a vote against charging two Cleveland police officers involved in the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the Chandra Law Firm that represents the Rice family said in a statement.
“It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment,” the statement said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, McGinty announced that a grand jury has decided not to charge officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, who killed Rice while he was playing with a toy gun in a park.
The Rice family attorneys stated that McGinty “hired so-called expert witnesses” to persuade the jury that the officers acted appropriately. They also noted that the prosecutor allowed the policemen to read their prepared statements to the jurors without answering cross-examination questions.
“This special treatment would never be given to non-police suspects,” the attorneys concluded.
McGinty has previously faced criticism over how he handled the case. In November, legal workers and attorneys from Law4BlackLives coalition urged McGinty to step aside and allow an independent investigator to handle the case against the officers.
