In the more than 162,500 cases prosecuted by U.S. attorneys from 2009 to 2010, grand juries voted not to return an indictment in only 11, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics — equivalent to one in 14,759 cases, or 0.0068 percent.My hunch is the prosecutor in Ferguson knew the evidence didn't support charging Officer Wilson. He also knew this outcome would be vastly unsatisfying to the region's black citizens.
But grand juries do not often indict police officers, at least at the state level.
Part of the reason is that police officers are empowered to use force when they reasonably fear imminent physical harm.
I speculate he decided to protect himself by having another entity make the determination and take the heat. In a less emotionally charged case, after evaluating the evidence a prosecutor would have decided on his or her own not to prosecute.
