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"Investigative Grand Juries" To Be Restarted in Police Shootings Cases

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg says she expects to resume the controversial practice of presenting police shooting cases to "investigative grand juries."

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/WxAjBM) that Brandenburg sent a letter this week to Second Judicial District Court judges saying she will begin scheduling the first of 12 pending police shooting cases for grand jury presentations.

That practice has drawn fire since grand juries were given instructions only on justified shootings, and prosecutors met with officers to review their testimony prior to the presentments.

Since 2010, Albuquerque police have been involved in more than two dozen officer-involved shootings, 17 of them fatal. The high number of shootings and other high-profile use-of-of force cases sparked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Albuquerque police.

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