1. The most important point to know is that a "grand jury report" is not really written by any jury members. As any lawyer will tell you, the report is actually written by government attorneys with a predetermined outcome. The folks in the "jury" are merely a formality, window dressing to make the matter legal. Jurors sit in a room
eating hoagies and reading the newspaper while "listening" to the proceedings. There is no fact-checking, no cross-examinations, and no due process. Those cited in the report have almost no recourse to defend themselves. Accusations are assessed less on evidence and more on the desire for them to be true.
When the time comes, a jury member simply slaps his signature on the finished attorneys' report to make everything official. Press conferences ensue, and hysteria follows. [Highly recommended:
"If it's not a runaway, it's not a real grand jury" by Roger Roots.]
In theory, a grand jury is supposed examine evidence to determine whether a crime took place and should be prosecuted. This was
clearly not the intention of
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. In an 800+-page screed, Shapiro's report (and yes, it's really Shapiro's report, not a "grand jury report") does not recommend a single criminal charge, because almost all of the accusations are many decades old. The fact that countless tax dollars and unlimited government resources were expended on this escapade – while giving far-more-recent abuse in
public schools, the
Boy Scouts, and other organizations a complete pass – should raise serious questions about Shapiro's true motives.
2. Countless headlines have trumpeted that the report identified over 300 "predator priests." In truth, that is the number of those merely
accused; and the listed men are not just priests but include lay people, deacons, and seminarians. Many, if not
the majority, of the priests in the report are
long dead and no longer around to defend themselves. This caper examined allegations dating back to the
1930s, some eight decades ago. (One of the priests named in the report was
born in 1892, about the same time that light bulbs became popular.) Several men in the report
vehemently deny the accusations against them, and some claims in the report are outright false. (Much more on this in
Part II.) [HT:
Catholic League.]
http://www.themediareport.com/2018/08/18/rebuttal-grand-jury-report-pennsylvania/