From The AP:
Prosecutor: No charges for officer in Michael Brown’s death
St. Louis County’s prosecutor announced Thursday that he will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color.
Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s decision marked the third time prosecutors investigated and opted not to charge Darren Wilson, the white officer who fatally shot Brown, a Black 18-year-old, on Aug. 9, 2014. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November 2014, and the U.S. Department of Justice also declined to charge him in March 2015.
This officer has been investigated, charged, and failed to be indicted by a grand jury three times. The third time in the middle of the BLM zeitgeist.
I think it’s safe to say, he didn’t murder Michael Brown and that the shoot was justified.
Civil rights leaders and Brown’s parents had hoped that Bell, the county’s first Black prosecutor who took office in January 2019, would see things differently.
“My heart breaks” for Brown’s parents, a somber Bell said during a news conference. “I know this is not the result they were looking for and that their pain will continue forever.”
What is up with St. Louis and transparently biased prosecutors?
“The question for this office was a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law? After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did,” Bell said.
But, he said, “our investigation does not exonerate Darren Wilson.”
The state and federal government failed to convince a grand jury that Wilson did something bad, three times. Three times. THREE FUCKING TIMES NO INDICTMENT.
Brittany Packnett Cunningham, a Ferguson protester and educator who has become a national voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, said she is pained “that there is still a gaping wound” for Brown’s family. She said she knows that the system must change.
The Rev. Darryl Gray, a leading St. Louis activist, agreed that the system is at fault, not Bell’s investigation.
Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal justice campaigns at Color Of Change, a national racial justice organization, said in a statement that Bell’s announcement “perpetuates a criminal justice system that fails Black communities by allowing police to operate with impunity.”
It can’t be that it was a good shoot. Nope. It’s the system.
In the midst of all the other social unrest, this is just going to add to it.
Brace for more riots.
Gee. Democrats going back to the courts (or legal system in general) again and again until they get the results they want. Color me shocked.
Their boy Stalin loved, loved, LOVED that tactic. Re-arresting someone for the same charges after their acquittal.
I believe that was the whole point of this third inquiry from the beginning. I mean hell, if they couldn’t get the guy under the Obama DOJ They knew they couldn’t make anything stick but it helps to keep people angry. When things start slowing up again, they’ll find something else.
Then of course there is the on going torture of Mr. Wilson by forcing him to go through these indictment attempts. After three times you’d think even the “Ham Sandwich” is innocent.
The point was to bankrupt him with legal fees.
Unless a white cop is arrested for killing a black person no matter what the evidence shows, the entire justice system is wrong. Shooting a black person by a cop for any reason should be considered murder
Feels like “triple” jeopardy (I know that term would apply to actual trials). As noted the purpose is to bankrupt him despite innocence and to keep wounds open for political gain.
The only hope is for the police force to be 100% black/brown, non-heterosexual (take your sick pick), dwarf, handicapped, atheist, communist, and be former community organizers, to ever have a good shoot again. Nah, I’m kidding, they would still say it was racist.
I don’t think he has to get a lawyer for a grand jury. This isn’t about financially ruining him — it’s about getting to send him to prison where a gang will kill him.
Echoing what Rob Crawford said, Wilson doesn’t get a lawyer for the grand jury. He doesn’t even appear.
The grand jury hearing is the prosecutor and his case, presented to members of the community. No defense counsel or argument, no exculpatory evidence or testimony, and the lowest burden of proof — not even a preponderance of evidence, just whether there’s enough evidence that an unlawful act may have occurred.
Which brings me around to my thought: This is literally the easiest court scenario there is. It’s a one-sided argument. And three times, they couldn’t even meet that ridiculously low standard.
While technically true that the failure to secure an indictment is not an exoneration, the triple failure should be by anyone with two brain cells — and no ulterior agenda.
That obvious ulterior agenda is grounds to sue to have the case dismissed with prejudice because of malicious prosecution. It’s increasingly clear the prosecutor’s office is not going to let this one go unless forced.
The really sad part? These so called “activists “ cant even figure out that brown was a CRIMINAL. Black and dont wanna get shot by a white cop? Dont be a criminal.