Well, in theory and in exceptional and rare circumstances this may be true. The problem would be when the prosecutor has to eat the ham sandwich. This goes along with the statement that a prosecutor’s job is to prosecute – which is wrong. A prosecutor’s job is to do justice. He has the might of the state and he is to use it fairly, not vindictively nor maliciously.
If he indicted a ham sandwich, it would be fed to him, bite by bite, by a defense attorney with relish. Each bite would be a new experience and he would have to keep smiling with each new bite. The first bite would have a little hot sauce, the second would have a little more, and the sauces would get hotter with each bite. When the hot sauces were done, the defense attorney might put a bite in after being delicately swirled in some fresh shit. After the prosecutor ate the last bite he would have to digest the sandwich. In the end the prosecutor would rue the day he indicted the ham sandwich.
No sane prosecutor would indict a ham sandwich – i.e. a case that is a sure loser. He ends up having to stand up in front of a jury and try to make the ham sandwich a case for conviction. He will fail.
I think Mr. McCulloch, the prosecutor, handled matters professionally and competently. He was, however, in the position of being damned no matter what happened. He had witnesses testify who had claimed in the media to see the shooting, who with scrutiny did not see anything relevant. This was put out as a wrong thing to do. On the other hand, if they had not testified, we would have heard them on the news claiming they were not allowed to testify. We would have had pundits arguing that the witness’s version of the events would have changed the grand jury outcome.
The way to handle a grand jury is the way it was done in Ferguson. You give the grand jury the whole pot, and let them sort through it. Grand juries take their job seriously, and are more independent than most people imagine. The prosecutor leaves the room when the jurors deliberate and vote. The prosecutor is not telling them what to do.
The real solution in Ferguson is not body cameras on police. The solution is not so simple. The solution involves improving our educational system, the use of firearms, i.e. deadly force as opposed to non lethal force as a trained response, changing the police mind set towards minorities, increasing minority participation in the political and police process, and on and on. The solution is complicated, but that is no reason not to start.