Sorry little late to the thread, and fair points to you for admitting you’re wrong on the Internet! Lol

From your comment below:

>My main point though, is that indictment does not mean that the court or government thinks you are guilty.

I think we’re just having a miscommunication over what “the government” is. Since you said “court or government” it sounds like you’re saying the US or State government where you’ve been charged, and you’re correct that the entire government considers you innocent until proven guilty.

In court parlance, “The Government” I’m referring to means the prosecutor. If you were indicted, the case would be “The United States vs Ninjaromeo” and you would be referred to as your name or “the defendant,” while the prosecutor would be referred to as “the government.”

Prosecutors do not bring cases against people unless they think they can win the eventual court case, so by that definition, any indictment is the prosecutor (and using that parlance, “the government”) thinking you’re guilty.

And just to comment on your strikethroughs, as you are correct on some points though your interpretations went outside of reality. You’re right that only the prosecutor presents anything, but that is to make sure that based on that evidence they have a trial in the first place. Trials are expensive, and if a case can’t stand up to evidence without a defense, it definitely won’t stand up without one. In some cases the prosecutor can just go to a judge, but grand juries are a way to make that even more impartial particularly in high profile cases where it might be difficult to find an impartial jury.

Your fourth paragraph is where your comment went off the rails though, grand jury proceedings are secret for a reason, and cannot be used as evidence. Only evidence can be used as evidence. If they don’t see that you’ve met probable cause, you aren’t going to win in a trial anyway, so not putting taxpayer dollars toward that is a good thing.

I hope that helps and if we want to look at the only silver lining to trump, it’s that any of us paying attention are getting a great lesson in American civics and our legal system! 😜