Detective on Waco Grand Jury for Biker Indictments

On July 14, Dallas News published an editorial regarding a Waco detective serving on a grand jury (click here for full article).    This article raises concerns about an active-duty detective from the Waco police department being selected for the grand jury in McLennan County.   James Head has been a member of the Waco police force for 26 years and will now serve as foreman of the local grand jury.

The reason this appointment is questioned is the fact that the case involving the recent shootout with two rival motorcycle gangs outside the Twin Peaks restaurant may be coming before the grand jury.  On May 17, 177 bikers were arrested for their involvement in the incident.  Nine people were killed.  It can be presumed that many of those that were arrested were simply present and not involved in the actual shooting.  Perhaps they were doing what “normal people would do during a shootout - ducking for cover and getting out of the way.”   

The author’s audience is the local population interested in fair and justified prosecution.  There is an appearance of bias on the part of the grand jury based on the named foreman’s likely personal and professional interactions due to his job.  It is reasonable to presume that Detective Head knows many of those involved in the prosecution of this well-publicized incident.  The author is raising the possibility that these 177 bikers that are being prosecuted may not be able to receive a fair trial. 

I believe that the author has brought up a very good point.  Although I can see the value in having a person with law enforcement knowledge typically being beneficial on a grand jury, I can see the possibility of a conflict of interest.  However, I must disagree that this is just now becoming a concern with this high-profile case.  If having an active-duty member of the police force is a conflict in this case, it should also be a conflict in other cases that have not garnered media attention.   I agree that fairness “at every stage” of the legal process should be paramount to “ensure justice is properly served.”   But I also believe those standards should be for every citizen facing the legal process, not just this high-profile case.  If police officers and the like are not excluded with every case, they should not be excluded from this one.