From the Colorado Springs Independent: When a grand jury clears a police officer in a shooting death of a citizen, good luck finding out what evidence was weighed in reaching that decision. That’s because, by law, the proceeding is a secret and nobody can speak publicly about it.

So when a grand jury cleared Colorado Springs Police Officer Nathan Jorstad in July 2011 of the shooting death of James Guy Jr., 22, on April 22, 2011, the public was barred from knowing:

— whether the police perpetuated their claim made to the public at the time that officers gave Guy a warning before the shooting, which is false, according to police and District Attorney’s Office investigative reports.

— whether police and investigators told the grand jury Guy was shot in the back, not the chest as Jorstad claimed when interviewed by DA’s investigators, or the “torso,” as police told the public.

Those points are the basis of the Independent‘s petition to a District Court judge, submitted this week, to open the transcripts of the Jorstad grand jury, a case explored in the Indy‘s story “Case closed.”

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