What's Not In The PPB Report On Perez Shooting?

The One True bIX

You will be reading, in the coming days and weeks, about the Portland Police Bureau "report" on the officer-involved shooting death of James Jahar Perez, which occured back in March of 2004.

While the accompanying press release says the report "includes an overview of the incident, addresses issues related to the Grand Jury and Inquest, and describes changes to the Police Bureau’s policies and procedures since the shooting" it's coverage of the grand jury and inquest mainly is a briefish timeline and mostly consists of material released by the Bureau at the time.

Presuming that there will be coverage of this "report" and therefore some refresher items on the shooting story itself, I wanted to suggest people keep some things in mind.

(Not because I have any illusions that these are the sorts of things which a Bureau report would include -- but because they are things that cannot be allowed to be snuffed out of the public record, and the public's understanding of the case.)

Don't forget how Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk gamed the public inquest based upon his choice of "experts" and his refusal to include certain highly-relevant evidence.

Don't forget that because of grand jury secrecy, we have no way of knowing for certain whether or not he similarly gamed what was and was not presented to the grand jury.

And let's see whether or not any potential coverage of this "report" remembers to actually mention any of those lingering questions about the way Schrunk handled the case.

By The One True bIX Nov. 28, 2005