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Obviously, we don’t have all the facts relative to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson (MO) Police Officer Darren Wilson last August. What we do know is that, following a confrontation, Officer Wilson repeatedly shot Brown, an unarmed black teenager who matched the description of someone who just committed a strongarm (not an armed) robbery in a local convenience store.
One question still remains, however. Why did Officer Wilson feel compelled to use lethal force if Brown was unarmed? Did the officer feel threatened? Or was he just p—-d off that this young black kid was challenging his authority? And why didn’t Officer Wilson simply use non-lethal force (e.g., a taser gun) until additional police backup arrived at the scene?
It was evident from the get-go that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert “Prime Time Bob” McCullough HAD NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER of prosecuting Officer Wilson. But “Prime Time Bob” did not have the cohones to admit this publicly and thus reveal his bias and possibly damage his political career. So he shuffled the case off to a hand-picked Grand Jury, which predictably found no “probable cause” to indict Officer Wilson.
But even more appalling, McCullough waited until prime time (6 PM PST on Monday) to ceremoniously announce the Grand Jury decision, using network television to gain as much personal publicity as possible and thus pad his own political resume. And all the while, he sounded more like Officer Wilson’s attorney rather than a prosecutor, while defending the Grand Jury’s decision.
Utterly disgraceful! The role of the prosecutor is to present a case to the Grand Jury for the express purpose of gaining an indictment. It is NOT to use the Grand Jury as a means of exonerating the alleged perpetrator of a possible criminal act!
Because of the cozy relationship that exists between the police department and the County prosecutor (and not just in Ferguson), whenever an alleged criminal act is perpetrated by a law enforcement official, an INDEPENDENT prosecutor must be appointed to investigate the case and take whatever action is warranted. No wonder the black community is distrustful of law enforcement when they witness this dog-and-pony show put on by “Prime Time Bob”. Something is indeed rotten in Ferguson, Missouri!
The Honorable Eddie Rose
Former Laguna Niguel (CA) City Councilman
“A Voice—Not an Echo”
Eddie – “The role of the prosecutor is to present a case to the Grand Jury for the express purpose of gaining an indictment.”
Wrong Eddie –
“The grand jury’s accusatory function is to determine whether or not there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offense within the venue of the district court.”
wiki –
Eddie – “So he shuffled the case off to a hand-picked Grand Jury ..”
Wrong again Eddie –
This grand jury was selected in May of this year – before the incident took place.
It was hand-picked by a judge and supposedly reflected the ethnic makeup of the community. I don’t know anything about the judge or the composition of the jury pool.
Yeah – but way before the incident took place – that is my point.
Eddie – “Why did Officer Wilson feel compelled to use lethal force if Brown was unarmed? Did the officer feel threatened? Or was he just p—-d off that this young black kid was challenging his authority? And why didn’t Officer Wilson simply use non-lethal force (e.g., a taser gun) until additional police backup arrived at the scene?”
What don’t you understand about the kid going for the officer’s gun? – for doing so he looses the qualification of “unarmed.”
it’s a shame Brown was shot. I wish he’d just been cooperative with the officer.
ps-when does a legal adult stop being “a kid?”
This is the best policy discussion I’ve seen of the underlying issues in some time.
http://www.thenation.com/article/190937/why-its-impossible-indict-cop
By the way, Wilson chose not to carry a taser because he found it cumbersome.
Good for him. He worked the dangerous streets of St. Louis. Is your suggestion that this somehow puts him at fault? From what I understand the Criminal (Brown) was responsible for his death. Just the same as the three killed by Anaheim PD in the past few years. Note to parents: Don’t let your kids get yattoos,drop out of school, or join gangs. Then you don’t get killed.
I think this is parenting 101.
Officer Wilson……was playing “White Macho Cop”. He grabbed Brown by the throat and was expecting him to submit like in Full Metal Jacket. Wrongo Officer Darren boy……obvisously Wilson is not prior service military. Or if he is it was as an Air Force MP at best. It simply goes like this: Stupidity and Bad Judgment get people killed….almost every time.
*We can’t wait to see the results of the Lie Detector Test that Darren Wilson is going to take when the Fed Investigators interview him. Obvisously, all witnessnesses need to take Lie Detector Tests in this investigation including the District Attorney, the Chief of Police and the lead Ferguson Investigator.
LOL Wilson will never take a lie detector test and no one ever has to take one. Keep guessing. Wilson has more than $1,000,000 in donations for his future. He will be just fine in life. He took care of a thug that made the decision to go for a cops gun. That is a death wish in any city, in any country. Ferguson burned in a better place than it was before. They wanted it burned, they got it.
There is a gathering at the Orange Circle today from 4:00 to 7:00.
The role of the grand jury, straight from none other than Antonin Scalia. It’s quite unlike the approach Mr. McCullough chose to take.
“It is the grand jury’s function not ‘to enquire … upon what foundation [the charge may be] denied,’ or otherwise to try the suspect’s defenses, but only to examine ‘upon what foundation [the charge] is made’ by the prosecutor. Respublica v. Shaffer, 1 Dall. 236 (O. T. Phila. 1788); see also F. Wharton, Criminal Pleading and Practice § 360, pp. 248-249 (8th ed. 1880). As a consequence, neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have a right to testify or to have exculpatory evidence presented.”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/26/3597322/justice-scalia-explains-what-was-wrong-with-the-ferguson-grand-jury/
It’s a lie anon – it’s a LIE!! – and you fell for it.
I read Scalia’s majority opinion – the LIE is the word “function.” Scalia never said that – they changed the context of what he actually said. Remove the words “the function” and insert “a requirement” – that changes the whole meaning.
Fuckin” liars – think progress.org – fuckin’ liars.
Actually, you are the liar;
From Scalia’s opinion;
“…it is the grand jury’s function not “to enquire . . . upon what foundation the charge may be denied,” or otherwise to try the suspect’s defenses, but only to examine “upon what foundation the charge is made” by the prosecutor. Respublica v. Shaffer, 1 U.S. (1 Dall.) 236, 1 L.Ed. 116 (Philadelphia Oyer and Terminer 1788); see also F. Wharton, Criminal Pleading and Practice § 360, pp. 248-249 (8th ed. 1880). As a consequence, neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have a right to testify, or to have exculpatory evidence presented.”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/504/36
anon said: “Actually, you are the liar; From Scalia’s opinion;
“…it is the grand jury’s function not “to enquire . . . upon what foundation the charge may be denied,”
I challenge you anon to review Scalia’s opinion and point out to me exactly where he said that “the GJ function is not to enquire” – it’s not there. If you find it and point it out to me, in the words of the immortal Cal Worthington, I will eat a bug.
I will accept your admission that you are incorrect here and your apology for calling me a liar. However, you must admit that thinkprogress.org did in fact intentionally mislead and lie.
Or should I say, you’re the “fuckin'” liar.
So tell us, which lie did YOU fall for?
So proud of the class you continue to display Skally, you’re a man after my own heart. Want to invite you to join Matt and I for an Old Fashioned this evening. Hope you can make it.
Happy Thanksgiving you classy guy you.
NOT part of Scalia’s oponion – “it is not the grand juries function” – look up the ACTUAL opinion – not the lie from the article.
That IS from the actual opinion. Click on the link I provided you that you want to ignore and scroll down. That is the text of the opinion.
Scroll down to the paragraph beginning “It is axiomatic…”
“It is axiomatic that the grand jury sits not to determine guilt or innocence, but to assess whether there is adequate basis for bringing a criminal charge.”
Are you dense? That sentence has nothing to do as to proscribing a strictly prosecutorial function of a GJ.
Duh. I was merely pointing you to the section in question because you’re so stubborn.
Further – the conclusion of that paragraph does not proscribe a strictly prosecutorial function for a GJ.
“As a consequence, neither in this country nor in England has the suspect under investigation by the grand jury ever been thought to have a right to testify, or to have exculpatory evidence presented.”
Do you understand? The suspect does not have a right that exculpatory evidence be presented to a GJ. However, nothing there prohibits a prosecutor from presenting exculpatory evidence.
Yeah, no shit. It’s not about prohibition, but tradition. Do you understand? Yet McCullough used the grand jury in a mostly non-traditional way; He presented exculpatory evidence AND he put Wilson on the stand, which Scalia points out here as traditionally inappropriate.
Oh, and you were also wrong…he DID use the word FUNCTION.
I accept your apology.
That wasn’t an apology. It was a pointing out of your diversionary argument.
So, Skally, are you going to reveal the source that lied to you?
*Here are a few questions the Feds need to ask Darren Wilson:
(1) Did you know who Michael Brown was before the day of the event?
(2) Had you ever heard of Michael Brown prior to the day and moment of the event?
(3) Did you call Michael Brown over to your police vehicle after telling him to get out
of the street?
(4) Did you reach through your patrol car vehicle window and attempt to grab Michael
Brown for any reason prior to pulling your firearm?
(5) When Michael Brown first struck you…what side of the face did he hit you on?
(6) Did Michael Brown hit you with a closed fist? Which hand first hit you?
(7) Was your patrol car running at idle when Michael Brown approached your car?
(8) Were you struck by Michael Brown before you attempted to get out of your vehicle?
(9) When Michael Brown blocked your egress from your vehicle, why did you not put
your vehicle in gear and accelerate away?
(10) How long was Michael Brown at your car window before you were struck?
(11) What words did Michael Brown say to you before he struck you?
(12) What words were said by you prior to Michael Brown striking you?
(13) Is it police procedure to attempt to engage a lawbreaker while still in your car?
(14) Why did you not accelerate away and call for back-up prior to instagating any
incident?
(15) If you could do it over, would you have called for back-up at any time?
(16) How far did you back up your car after Michael Brown and his friend responded
to your request for them to get on the sidewalk?
(17) Did you clean you weapon when you went home, after the shooting?
(18) How many clips do you carry normally, and how many were you carrying that day?
(19) Why do you carry a 9MM rather than a .45 caliber?
(20) Was the firearm issued to you by the Ferguson PD or was it your firearm of
choice?
(21) In the AFTER shooting report, did the Supervisor inspect your firearm?
(22) When did you take a shower after the shooting event?
(23) Did you give your uniform items that you were wearing that day to Internal Affairs?
(24) What happened to your uniform, including shoes and socks after the Michael
Brown shooting?
(25) When you left the partrol car to give chase to Michael Brown, how far did you
have to run before you started shooting. Did you continue chase and keep
firing?
(26) When did Michael Brown turn around and charge you at full speed?
(27) How supportive has the Chief of Police and the District Attorney been to you
personally…after the shooting?
(28) Have you ever drawn and fired your firearm prior to that day?
(29) Do you think it’s possible that you could have shot Mr. Brown in the legs in order to incapacitate him, rather than shooting him in the head?
Police are trained to shoot for body mass – mostly to save their own lives as well as others.
Don’t like it – pass a law. Good luck with that.
I’d say the legs of an unarmed, 6’6″ 280 lb. man present a sizable target.
Federal case has about as good a shot as the state case would. Zero. Zilch. All the federal case will accomplish if POS Holder files the case is that when Wilson is found not guilty they will burn the rest of Ferguson to the ground and then blame the system. Ok now I agree. Charge Wilson so Ferguson will never exist again. Deal.
“(28) Have you ever drawn and fired your firearm prior to that day?”
Of course he has – rephrase so as not to appear idiotic.
….at anothe person..obviously. Not at the police range during a practice session.
A couple of other things to consider. Anger causes death! Darren Wilson was angry that the two black kids said something in response to his command. He lost emotional control, grabbed Mikey by the throat after he asked both guys to come over to the car. When Mikey pulled back and pushed Darren away, Darren blew it big time and pulled his firearm and Mikey, having watched a variety of TV shows, put his forefinger in front of the hamnmer and attempted to stop Darren from pulling the trigger. Darren had the leverage pulled the trigger twice….wildly……and Mikey and his friend withdrew smartly. Darren jumps out of his vehicle and starts wildly shooting……..emptying his clip into Mikey. This cop did not follow procedure, did not call for back up and was emotionally out of control. When they finally do the psychiatric study of Darren, he will be found to be not fit for duty. Remember, the Ferguson Police Chief claims it is hard to find good police candidates for his department. All of this could have been avoided simply by following standard police procedures. The DA knew that too and is following the Zimmerman cover up procedure to confuse the the GJ….and most importantly, the Asst. DA misread and mislead the GJ about when it was OK for a police officer ….to kill anyone.
Shooting at center mass of any target is standard PD training procedure. Should we say that Darren is a pretty bad shot? Darren was so upset that he had to wait until he was ten feet away before shooting Mikey in the head.
Again, Darren and Zimmerman need to start a Security Company guarding empty warehouses.
*So, if Darren can’t hit Hulk Hogan at 35 feet…..imagine if Ronda Rousey had
attacked him……guess, he would still be shooting and reloading.