Demanding Justice for Michael Brown

By Reginald Johnson

   Around the country, people are demanding justice in the Michael Brown case.

  Demonstrations have swept major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago as well as dozens of smaller cities, with thousands expressing anger that a grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Brown, an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri last August.

  Hundreds of people are now marching to the Missouri State Capital of Jefferson City to show their concern for what happened to Brown, who was 18 at the time of the shooting.

  Last weekend about 100 people protested in Bridgeport, a city of about 150,000 in Connecticut.

 “Bridgeport could be the next Ferguson,” Rev. Mary McBride Lee told the crowd gathered outside the City Hall Annex, according to the Connecticut Post. “We have to stick together and stand up for what’s right.”

  It’s a good thing that so many people are criticizing the grand jury result in the Michael Brown case, because there’s a lot to be upset about.  The more you look at the facts of the case, it’s hard to understand how the grand jury came to the conclusion that there was no probable cause to indict Wilson.

  There are inconsistencies in the account Wilson gave to the grand jury and some legal experts, including a noted forensic pathologist, say Wilson’s version of how the fatal shooting took place, doesn’t conform with the physical evidence.

  Questions have also been raised about the quality of the local investigation of the Brown shooting and the way St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch handled the grand jury.

  A recent piece in Mother Jones magazine analyzed the testimony given by dozens of witnesses to the shooting, and compared that with Wilson’s testimony, and the statement by McCulloch announcing there was no basis for an indictment.  The article identified a number of discrepancies, relating to different accounts about an initial confrontation between Wilson and Brown, how it escalated into a fight, whether Wilson shot at Brown when he and his friend Dorian Johnson ran away, and whether Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot at him, after Brown had stopped running and turned around.

   Two findings are particularly noteworthy from the article, which drew in part from an analysis by PBS News Hour of 500 pages of witness testimony and Wilson’s statements:

·        While Wilson testified he did not shoot at Brown after he fled, a full 16 witnesses said he did. Only four witnesses supported Wilson on this point;

·        Though Wilson told the grand jury he shot Brown only after the teenager turned around with his hands down and began advancing towards the officer, 16 witnesses said Brown had his hands raised after he turned around. Only two witnesses said Brown did not have his hands up.

  In a recent interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, well-known forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht said Wilson’s testimony that Brown had his hands down and was reaching into his waistband, does not comport with the physical evidence. Wecht, the one-time president of the American Academy of Forensic Science, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a past consultant on many high profile crime cases, said the location and shape of the wounds sustained by Brown indicate that he could not have had his hands down at the time of the shooting. His hands had to have been raised, Wecht said.

  Wecht also expressed astonishment that a county medical examiner who came to review the Brown shooting scene on the day of the incident failed to take photographs, as required. The official said he couldn’t do so, since his camera was “out of batteries.” The medical examiner also failed to take measurements, another standard step.

   “This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Wecht.

 While no criminal charges will be forthcoming from the local grand jury, there is still the possibility that the federal government could file criminal charges against Officer Wilson. Officials from the Justice Department are conducting a separate investigation of the case.

Travesty in Michael Brown Case

                                      

By Reginald Johnson  

  

   There’s no question in my mind that a St. Louis County grand jury had enough information to indict Officer Darren Wilson on charges of murder or manslaughter in the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

  The fact that they didn’t is a travesty.

  The grand jury, overseen by Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, met for weeks to review the case of Wilson, who shot the 18-year-old Brown, who was black, in Ferguson last August.

  The case has been fraught with racial overtones, since Wilson is white and Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

  Many African-Americans maintain that the shooting is one more example of a pattern of unjustified killings of young black men by white police officers.

  In the incident, Brown and a friend were walking down the street in Ferguson, when Wilson pulled up in a squad car and asked the two to walk on the sidewalk. According to Wilson, the two refused, and words were exchanged. When Wilson pulled his car ahead and tried to get of his car, he said Brown slammed the door on him, and a tussle occurred. Wilson maintained that Brown reached for Wilson’s gun. In the struggle, Wilson got control of the gun and fired two shots, with one grazing Brown.

   Brown then ran, and Wilson got out of the car and pursued him, apparently with gun in hand. He told the grand jury he shouted to Brown to ‘get down the ground’ but Brown refused. Then, the officer claimed, Brown turned around and began running at him. This claim, however, is disputed by eyewitnesses who said Brown stopped and put his hands up.

  Wilson said he fired several shots, with one striking Brown’s forehead, killing him.

  Though Wilson never testified that he “feared for his life” before shooting Brown, he said in his testimony that he was frightened by Brown who was bigger and who he said had a “crazed” look on his face and looked like a “demon.”

  Frightened or not, Wilson had an obligation as a trained police officer to use all methods or means at his disposal short of using deadly force to deal with Brown. By his own testimony, he had Mace in his car. Why didn’t he attempt to use it? He also had an asp (like a blackjack) in his car. Using a blackjack is not very nice, but it’s generally not going to create fatal injuries. Why didn’t he prepare to use that? Finally, all officers are trained in self-defense without a weapon. Why didn’t he plan to deal with Brown using those fighting techniques if need be, until backup help arrived?

  Why was there such a ready willingness to use deadly force?

 Contrary to the blather I’ve heard on FOX news, that the officer was “presumed innocent” from the get-go in this case, I think there was a heavy burden on Wilson and the Ferguson Police Department to show that Wilson absolutely had no alternative but to use deadly force on Brown, who did not have a weapon  The burden was clearly on the police to prove Wilson’s actions were appropriate.

  When you consider that Wilson had other non-lethal means of dealing with Brown, and that some witnesses even contradicted Wilson in his claim that he was being threatened,  I don’t think this burden of proof was met.

  Certainly, District Attorney McCulloch had enough probable cause to bring an indictment.

   It is troubling that apparently McCulloch did not try to direct this grand jury, as prosecutors usually do. Instead he just threw a lot of information to the grand jurors, who are ordinary citizens, and said in effect, ‘you decide.’

  It’s pretty clear McCulloch didn’t want to bring charges against Officer Wilson.

  What a disgrace. Hopefully, federal prosecutors will step in and do justice in this case.