Patterson Law, the firm representing many of the families who lost loved ones during the shootings of April 18-19, 2020, has issued a statement calling for the Mass Casualty Commission to commit to a start date, and suggesting as well that there is a lack of clarity as to how the MCC hearings will operate. Most significantly, these lawyers, who are the main non-governmental participants, still do not know whether they will be able to cross examine witnesses during the MCC. This is very troubling news, especially at this advanced stage of hearing preparations. The Commission spokesperson responded to that point by saying “any additional questions participants may have will be addressed through the course of the proceedings”. That could be read two ways. One would be that if parties have questions after each witness is examined during the hearings by Commission legal counsel, they may be permitted to cross-examine. A more restrictive interpretation would suggest that the Commission feels they have already given each party a sufficient chance to ask questions during the closed-door sessions, and therefore any request for additional questions during the actual hearing might be met with resistance. We many wonder why Patterson would participate in the secretive foundational documents formation process without knowing that answer. Their statement yesterday suggests they are wondering that themselves. It appears that they did so reluctantly, as something of a show of good faith in the process. Now that they are speaking out in this manner, it would appear that they feel their good faith is being tested.
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