9/25/15
HOW DOESN'T THE GRAND JURY WORK? ASK DAN DOYLE
DOYLE'S "THE GRAN' OLE JURY" PROTEST SONG SINGS LOUD AND CLEAR
If you want to learn about the grand
jury, Google findlaw.com where it
states the sole purpose of the grand jury is not to find guilt or punishment of
a party. Instead, a prosecutor will “work” with a grand jury to decide whether
to bring criminal charges or an indictment against a potential defendant. It is
this process that spawned the phrase “a
prosecutor can get a Grand Jury to indict a ham sandwich”. Ironically,
while all states have provisions in their laws that allow for grand juries,
roughly half of the states don’t use them.
Rhode Island is a state which
does use the grand jury and in February 2012, Gordon Fox, Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives,
now in prison for bribery, called for an investigation of Dan Doyle. For more than three-and-half-years,
Dan Doyle has vehemently declared his innocence. After reading the grand jury
testimony, Doyle’s outrage caused him to write a protest song, “The Gran’ Ole
Jury”.
Now for almost four years since Fox’s announcement, Dan Doyle has
worked full-time at the Institute for International Sport. During these
albatross years, Dan has received no salary and has managed to pay all the Institute’s
monthly bills. Over this period of time, he has developed projects such as the
African Scholar-Athlete Games and has written a play based on Shoeless Joe Jackson – both projects
are new and valuable Institute assets. He could have continued to wallow in
outrage. Instead of resentment, Doyle moved forward in a positive direction.
“The Gran’ Ole Jury” protest
song (see this link for the lyrics) is a part of an album Dan
Doyle has worked on for over two years, an album called “brilliant” by renowned
platinum producer Gordon Bahary. The
full album, entitled “Stay Relevant”, will be released on iTunes in October,
followed by a CD to be distributed via Sony RED. All total there are
11 original songs, written, composed and recorded by Doyle, as well as 3
additional songs that are part of the Shoeless Joe play. Doyle also incorporated
an added element on the CD - an eight-minute stage reading of the Shoeless Joe
play.
A forthcoming “Support Dan Doyle
site” will include detailed information of the wide-spread legal redress that
will follow in the coming years – civil suits, civil rights suits, false light
suits, and malicious prosecution. Criminal complaints will also be filed
against those who Doyle alleges violated the law in the Grand Jury. Doyle is
also well into pre-production of a documentary on the Grand Jury system. The
documentary, tentatively titled “No
Judge, Just A Rope”, will expose a system that, in Doyle’s view, tramples
on civil rights; a system that allows public servants who work for the people
to operate under the misguided notion that they are somehow inviolable. Doyle
feels the documentary will shock an American public since so few citizens have
any real knowledge of a deeply flawed process that fosters injustice rather
than advancing fairness.
Dan Doyle has found a personalized
way to state his case and take a stand. His stance is best echoed by the
immortal words of baseball pitching great Satchel
Paige, “Never let your head hang
down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.” Dan Doyle
found another way and soon his words in song and theater (and eventually in a
documentary) will rebalance the scales of justice. The vindication and innocence of Dan Doyle is
only a matter of time.
On August 8th, in Worcester,
MA DCU Center, Doyle produced a live
event – the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. He founded the awards event in 2002 and this year over 1700
people attended. Included in the awards presentation was a 50-minute “Show”
that Doyle keenly produced in tandem. Renowned stage actor, Marc Carver, served as host. Seven
student ballet student dancers interpreted 11 songs – each song was accompanied
by a theme-based pictorial – featuring photos of honorees conveyed to the
audience audio-visually on three large screens.
“What Dan produced that night was, in my opinion, a new art form. Being
a theater actor, I’ve never seen anything like it. The music was beautiful,
heartfelt, poignant and earnest. The student dancers were elegant and they
seemed to perform with a love and joy. The tri-screened projected photos of the
honorees were deeply personal to the members of the audience – an audience that
was riveted from beginning to end. A few days after the event, I wanted to give
my girlfriend an idea of what Dan’s amazing songs were like. I played one of
the songs, ‘A Parent’s Message’ for her. The original song is about
selflessness and steadfast love. When the song ended, we sat smiling silently
with tears on our cheeks. Dan’s voice is a one-of-a-kind narrative-style in
theater and music,” Marc Carver stated.
Dan Doyle recently agreed to his first public interview since February 2012. Doyle discussed issues such as
the future of the Institute, the documentary he is producing on the Grand Jury
system and why he wrote, composed and recorded “Stay Relevant”. Jim
Thompson, the founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance, commented on the Shoeless Joe play.
# # #
Contact: George Dassinger gdassinger@yahoo.com 973-890-1008