Michael Brown shooting case to go before grand jury Wednesday

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: By Kevin McDermott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Evidence in the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer will be presented to a grand jury beginning Wednesday.

"We are going to attempt to start giving evidence to the grand jury (Wednesday), depending upon the ability to get the witnesses in and the witnesses showing up," said Ed Magee, spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch. "It will be handled by the attorney regularly assigned to the grand jury. It will not be by Mr. McCulloch."

The standing St. Louis County Circuit Court grand jury, not a special assembly, will hear the evidence.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/michael-brown-shooting-case-to-go-before-grand-jury-wednesday/article_375eff87-6a6b-534b-abcc-a8664e7d3ba2.html

[randys1]

1. Who then is handling it?

This is very simple, if it is a republican, then fuck it, cant be fair.

It is that simple

[HooptieWagon]

4. "the attorney regularly assigned to the grand jury"

No name was cited. I rather doubt all evidence will be presented... only cherry-picked evidence that supports justifiable homicide.

[Bjorn Against]

2. This may sound like good news, but it is not

Evidence is presented to a Grand Jury in secret and the prosecutor gets to decide what evidence is submitted and what is kept away from the jury. Because this prosecutor seems to be on Wilson's side I have no confidence that he is going to make a strong case for prosecution, he will likely present evidence that makes it look like self defense so the Grand Jury will not indict.

A Grand Jury is an easy way for them to sweep this all under the rug, we want a public trial not a Grand Jury.

[FarPoint]

6. I think McCulloch is trying to pull a fast one on Eric Holder...

Give the appearance of giving a good faith effort but in reality, its a bait and switch. McCulloch does not want this going into Federal control.

[HooptieWagon]

7. Correctamundo!

Only selective evidence will be presented that supports the desired outcome. IOW, a whitewash. Peep in Ferguson are gonna be PISSED, and rightly so. Justice will not occur in St Louis County... its going to be up to whether DOJ decides to take on a difficult civil-rights violation case in Federal Courts.

[proverbialwisdom]

3. Papantonio: Ferguson Grand Jury and D.A. Should Not Be Local

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017210305

Papantonio: Ferguson Grand Jury and D.A. Should Not Be Local

[cleduc]

9. I agree

I do not understand why they would not withdraw themselves

[Cha]

5. We'll see what happens with that..

[underpants]

8. Will take a few weeks

But they will gets facts not bleeded out PR bullet points

[Bjorn Against]

10. I would not be so certain of that, I think they will be getting PR points

Evidence presented to a grand jury is secret, this means the prosecutor can stack the evidence any way he wants to stack it to reach his desired outcome and we will never even know what happened in the court room. I think the Grand Jury is going to inflame the situation in Ferguson even more because there is no transparency, a Grand Jury is not going to provide any answers to the public's questions and if they don't indict they will allow the police to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

[heaven05]

11. wilson will walk

You think they don't know how to sweep this under the cultural rug of systemic and institutionalized racist murder? They have over a hundred years of precedent to draw from, from all over the south. I bet they been making phone calls. 'hey, ben how do I handle these libruls in the press and these "animals" in the streets".

[cleduc]

12. How Strong Is the Legal Case Against Darren Wilson?

http://www.newsweek.com/how-strong-legal-case-against-darren-wilson-265675

What if Brown did assault Wilson and try to take his gun before fleeing—the account put forward by the St. Louis County police? Would that make him a dangerous fleeing felon?

“It’s conceivable that there might be a determination that Mr. Brown had committed an assault that was equivalent to a felony against a police officer and that might be viewed legally as a justification for the use of force—and in this instance, deadly force,” Joy said.

But assuming Brown didn’t charge at Wilson, as his friend recounted, other legal experts say that argument would be shaky at best.

Assuming "that Brown breaks away from the police officer and the police car, is not armed, and is at some distance away from him—not presenting any immediate threat to the officer or anybody else—then it's plainly illegal to shoot him,” said Bowman.

Did a struggle with the police officer turn Brown into a violent fleeing felon? After all, police department’s account claims Officer Wilson’s face was hit during the altercation and he was treated for his wounds at a hospital.

Not according to Bowman. “If you’re a police officer and I walk up and punch you in the nose and turn around and run away, you can’t pull out your glock and shoot me in the back. You just can’t. The law insists on far more restraint than that from police officers.” he said.

Generally, the law requires more than an altercation to justify the use of deadly force against someone who is fleeing the police, like assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon, or committing a crime with a deadly weapon.

“It’s pretty hard to think of any legal justification for the officer firing at this guy once contact is broken and the guy is moving away,” Bowman said.

Bowman was a little wary of Josie’s account, but stressed that an investigation will have to sort fact from fiction. “The idea that, once out of the car, the kid would then charge an obviously armed policeman seems to me less probable,” he said. “But, who knows? We'll see what the actual investigation decides.”

It's not a bad read.

From that, the only legal defense I can imagine for Wilson is trying to convince some members of the jury that Brown charged at him (which as noted and bolded above is a stretch because that's a pretty crazy thing to do against a cop with a gun drawn). Wilson would also need the ballistics to back him up. And a bunch of witnesses since they've interviewed about 200 folks and at least four have come out against him publicly. Without that, based on the above article, he's likely to get convicted (if the prosecutor doesn't put his thumb on the scales of justice).

[rhett o rick]

14. Sounds good but police have been killing people all around the country for simply not obeying an

order. If a young man is stopped at a traffic stop and then drives off, the police have somehow found justification for shooting 50 -60 bullets at him. As I've mentioned many times, the John Williams in Seattle was shot because he didn't drop his carving knife quick enough. The police shoot people because they get mad.

[cleduc]

15. There have to be a bunch of officers looking at this situation

saying to themselves "I do not want this to happen to me"

No matter what happens in the criminal and civil courts with this, Darren Wilson's life isn't going to be an easy one. Zimmerman many not have got the punishment for his actions many of us thought he deserved but his life is never going to be an easy one to live out either - which is at least some form of punishment.

Like crime or many other unacceptable behaviors, it's not likely this behavior will ever get totally eliminated. But if those who go down this path get held to account and the bright lights of media and public scrutiny shone on them, I think it's going to have a curtailing effect.

Mike Brown is tragically dead. But from his loss of life, Ferguson will never be the same. It's policing is going to get cleaned up to some significant level of improvement. And the aftershocks of this tragedy are probably saving some lives around the country because a few or many more cops are going to think twice before blowing someone away.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. I wonder what the racial make-up of that grand jury is. 100% white?