Ferguson Grand Jury

The decision to put the issue of the homicide of Michael Brown to a St. Louis County grand jury by the prosecutor is a very bad idea. As someone familiar with prosecutors conducting secret grand juries, I can tell you that the results can be easily manipulated by prosecutors. They decide what evidence to present to jurors and when.

There are no adversarial safeguards: no attorneys or any representative of the target of the grand jury is allowed, no checks and balances. The prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, is widely mistrusted by minorities. His father was a police officer killed by a black man, and in over 20 years as a prosecutor is notorious for dismissing virtually every accusation against police officers.

The question in this Grand Jury is WHO is McCulloch’s target? I suspect it will be Michael Brown. If he decides to stack the deck in favor of the killer cop, he will call witnesses that contradict each other, or even selectively call only witnesses who support the police story of events. No one will know what happens or monitor the proceedings to ensure fairness and thoroughness. 

There certainly is enough information to constitute probable cause to arrest the killer, and no grand jury is needed in the first place. We know who pulled the trigger at least eight times, striking his victim six times including two shots to the head. We know the victim was at a distance from the killer and unarmed — he was no threat to the killer. We know that at least three eyewitnesses have nearly identical statements that Mr. Brown was surrendering when shot dead and the forensic evidence supports the statements of those witnesses. If Michael Brown had shot his killer with identical evidence he would already be in jail without bail, if he survived being arrested. 

This is a scary time for justice when someone is killed like this and the killer is allowed to go free. If the grand jury fails to indict the killer, all hell will break loose … and should.