Grand jury declines to indict Rep. McKinney

a1aara · Post by **a1aara** » June 16, 2006 8:24 pm

Grand jury declines to indict Rep. McKinney
Investigation of alleged assault is finished, U.S. attorney says

Friday, June 16, 2006; Posted: 6:42 p.m. EDT (22:42 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A grand jury has declined to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia, who was accused of punching a Capitol Police officer in April.

The grand jury's decision ends the investigation into the incident, according to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein.

The March 29 altercation occurred at a security checkpoint in a congressional office building after officer Paul McKenna, a three-year veteran of the force, failed to recognize the six-term Georgia Democrat and tried to stop her from bypassing a metal detector.

Members of Congress are allowed to go around the detectors. However, they are supposed to wear pins that identify them as representatives or senators. McKinney acknowledged she was not wearing her pin.

McKinney "physically assaulted" McKenna, hitting him in the chest with a "closed fist," according to an incident report filed by Capitol Police last month.

Wainstein said he respected the grand jury's decision.

"We ask the U.S. Capitol Police to protect our Capitol and to do so in a way that minimizes disruption and makes all feel welcome," Wainstein said in a statement. "This is a tremendously difficult job, and it is one that officer McKenna and his colleagues perform with the utmost professionalism and dignity."

McKinney has never publicly discussed the details of what happened between her and the officer, citing the possibility of criminal charges.

After initially insisting the incident was an example of racial profiling, McKinney later apologized on the floor of the House, saying, "I am sorry this misunderstanding happened at all. I regret its escalation."

James Myart, an attorney representing McKinney, questioned the police version of the incident from the outset, saying Capitol Police initially apologized to McKinney. He also questioned why Capitol Police didn't arrested McKinney on the spot if she really had assaulted an officer.

Of the grand jury proceeding, Myart told reporters in April, "I would think that they would recognize that there simply is not enough evidence here to even bring an indictment."

In the midst of the controversy over her altercation with the officer, McKinney drew an opponent in the July 18 Democratic primary: Hank Johnson, an attorney and two-term member of the DeKalb County Commission.

McKinney, 51, represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District, a majority-black, Democratic district on the east side of metro Atlanta.

First elected in 1992, she was defeated in a 2002 Democratic primary but made a comeback in 2004. She won back her seat after the candidate who had defeated her two years earlier decided to run for the U.S. Senate.

Sam · Post by **Sam** » June 16, 2006 8:42 pm

She won back her seat after some gerrymandering went on.

We don't have to wonder what would happen to a common everyday person had committed such acts do we?

The article also fails she had altered her style and she also has a habit of not wearing the required pin. She was the first to play the Race card. She has been up there how many years and does not wear the required pin? She doesn't know he rules? Or is it the rules do not apply to her?

I bet, she will remember to wear the pin from now on. Maybe she realized what an ID10T she looked like. I somehow doubt she realized it though, and it had to be explained to her....or at least TRIED to be explained to her.

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » June 16, 2006 9:23 pm

...but... NO INDICTMENT!!!

Doesn't that sound recently familiar to another political thread?

Bet ya' feel kinda foolish for jumping all over her before all the facts were heard, huh???

actually j/k.... I think she's a nutcase

Sam · Post by **Sam** » June 16, 2006 9:33 pm

Lightning Bolt wrote:...
actually j/k.... I think she's a nutcase

You THINK she is a nutcase??? How much more evidence do you need, before you are convinced???

BahamaBreeze · Post by **BahamaBreeze** » June 16, 2006 9:38 pm

I'm embarrassed she is from GA...Thank goodness NOT my district!

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » June 16, 2006 9:39 pm

Sam wrote:
Lightning Bolt wrote:...
actually j/k.... I think she's a nutcase
You THINK she is a nutcase??? How much more evidence do you need, before you are convinced???

y'know I'd never heard her name before, but in the first days following this incident, she came off as unrepentant, offended and totally defensive of her actions.
After she got a call from the high-level Dem politicos... her tune changed noticeably (and her eyes stopped bulging out of her head, too!)

This tells me that she was told to step off...

Lightning Bolt · Post by **Lightning Bolt** » June 16, 2006 9:42 pm

BahamaBreeze wrote:I'm embarrassed she is from GA...Thank goodness NOT my district!

I don't know how she consented to being photographed with that clown

I'm talking about that woman on the left, that is....

Sam · Post by **Sam** » June 16, 2006 9:43 pm

BahamaBreeze wrote:I'm embarrassed she is from GA...Thank goodness NOT my district!

Yeah ME TOO!!! If not for the gerrymandering that was done, I seriously doubt she could have gotten elected for anything ever again.

LB she made another name for herself when she ripped into Mayor (at the time) Giuliani (sp) for not taking the money from the Saudi that offered it, after 9/11.

She has numerous other "bone head" stunts she has pulled.

a1aara · Post by **a1aara** » June 16, 2006 9:45 pm

I think that She and Rove both got very lucky this week.

BahamaBreeze · Post by **BahamaBreeze** » June 16, 2006 10:00 pm

a1aara wrote:I think that She and Rove both got very lucky this week.

Rove...Grrrrrrrr...don't get me started!

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