Tag Archives: criminalization of politics

Did Rick Perry Threaten Grand Jurors?

One state judge appears to think he may have, according to this report:

Judge Julie Kocurek of the 390th District Court, a Democrat, said Perry’s Saturday statement, issued a day after the indictment, could be construed as a threat and possible violation of the law. Kocurek, as the administrative presiding judge of all criminal courts in the county, said that “no one is above the law,” and the public needs to know that grand jurors are legally protected from any threat….

The judge said that Perry might have made a veiled threat when he said: “I am confident we will ultimately prevail, that this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it is, and that those responsible will be held to account.”

I understand the desire to protect grand jurors but, to my ears, this is far too vague to be deemed a proscribable threat to them.  Gov. Perry could have been — and in my view, probably was — referring to the prosecutor rather than grand jurors.  And I see nothing wrong with his calling for public officials to be “held to account.”

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