The Grand Jury in Missouri appears to have rendered its decision in the shooting investigation Michael Brown. It is expected to be announced shortly. Below is my column in USA Today.
In anticipation of the decision on whether to indict officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, the town of Ferguson, Mo., is a virtual armed camp. Schools are closed. The National Guard was called out when the governor declared a state of emergency. The emergency? A grand jury announcement.
While most protesters have engaged in legitimate and lawful speech, others used the shooting of the black teenager by a white police officer as justification to loot the town. State and federal forces are assembling in Ferguson in expectation that some protesters will riot unless there is a criminal charge. Those who insist that “justice” can be found only in jail for Wilson are speaking not of real justice but mob justice.
After the fatal encounter on Canfield Drive, there was good reason for many to question the shooting of Brown. The 18-year-old was unarmed, and police say he had committed a minor theft before being stopped by Wilson. Given the continuing cases of the profiling and shooting of black males by police, there was ample reason for suspicion. However, there was also ample reason for caution before declaring Wilson was a murderer.
Dueling stories
Within hours of the shooting, two clear and equally plausible narratives emerged. From the police account, Brown attacked Wilson after the officer confronted him for blocking the street. In the ensuing struggle in the patrol car, Brown was shot when he grabbed for the officer’s gun and then shot repeatedly outside of the vehicle. From the account of Brown’s friend (and others), Wilson gunned down Brown after the stop without provocation, including shooting him when he had his hands in the air. Each account has one of the men acting in an unprovoked and violent manner. If either account is true, it will be determined through investigations, not demonstrations.
Rioters, who somehow rationalized looting as acts of moral outrage, weren’t willing to wait for evidence. What is surprising is that national and local leaders showed the same impatience.
Soon after the shooting, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon referred to Brown as the “victim” despite Wilson’s insistence that Brown attacked him. Nixon denounced the police for releasing video that they say shows Brown robbing a store and threatening the clerk as besmirching the victim. Nixon also called for the pursuit of “a vigorous prosecution” for the shooting. A governor’s foremost responsibility is to demand not prosecution but the truth from an unbiased investigation.
Premature federal role
Attorney General Eric Holder was also criticized for his reaction. Holder said he shared the same experience of profiling and abuse at the hands of police. As he did in the Trayvon Martin case, Holder sent in federal civil rights investigators before the initial investigation ended. Such federal investigations are ideally launched after state trials or, at a minimum, after an investigation is complete. When the federal government steps in, it can make the process look political and ultimately fuel discontent when it too rejects charges. Even before the grand jury has rendered its decision, The Washington Post reports that Holder’s investigators failed to uncover evidence to support civil rights charges.
That’s because the evidence in this case gives Wilson a strong defense. Brown allegedly was coming from the commission of a crime where he appeared to threaten a store clerk. The forensic evidence appears to contradict those who insist that Brown was not shot in a struggle but with his hands in the air. There is evidence that Wilson was injured in a struggle, the gun was discharged in the car and Brown was shot at close quarters leaving blood on the gun. Finally, more than a half-dozen black witnesses reportedly gave testimony supporting Wilson. Other scenarios could explain the evidence, and there is still the question of why so many shots were fired. But those questions might never be answered, a reality of some criminal cases.
The law requires us to deal with facts, and when those facts do not support a criminal charge, prosecution is barred regardless of popular demand.
In the end, it rings hollow to cry “no justice, no peace” when you are rioting or looting. There can be no justice if it is merely the result of demonstrations rather than demonstrated facts. Otherwise, the scales of justice become just one more object to throw through the window of an appliance store.
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, has represented both protesters and police officers.
November 24, 2014
Squeeky – me neither. I wondered if I’d missed it.
Just so people don’t get included in the broad brush of the race card, I’ve asked for clarification. Otherwise, one by one, I suppose we could take offense, and be told we’re mistaken. But that seems like a parlor game.
@KarenS
I suspect a lot of harmless Liquor Stores will be looted in honor of Mike Brown. Except maybe the ones guarded by owners with guns.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
comment made on STC Police Facebook 3 hours ago
St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar wants the entire St. Louis community to know that the safety of our citizens is the primary concern for the St. Louis County Police Department.
“As a police department, our primary responsibility is to protect both life and property for our citizens, and we are committed to doing just that. St. Louis Metropolitan Chief of Police Sam Dotson, Missouri St… See More
If the cops would shoot a few of them, the rest would haul buns out of there.
Squeeky, I say this as a man who lost his police officer younger brother while on duty, that statement you made is among the most ill-informed things said here tonight.
Just shoot. Sure. But what if the looters also have guns? Then what, cowgirl?
Beauty Supply Shop now set on fire.
How many businesses ruined so far?
Ohhh, poor baby police men Squeaky
I haven’t seen any poetry or pictures deleted from this thread.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Great. There are protests around the country now.
I hope there is no violence anywhere else.
Who was racist and what did they write, exactly, just to be clear?
I don’t think what I’m watching on TV is funny, at all.
People are getting hurt because they believed what they heard, rather than waited for the evidence.
And I don’t think business owners are laughing watching their livelihood get destroyed by their neighbors on TV.
But keep on laughing if it amuses you.
You guys are a riot, no pun intended.
What breaks my heart, sickens me, is that the people who this mob are going to hurt are their fellow African American business owners. This makes the community look really bad, because this mob is not about justice of any kind.
In the US, we are not supposed to indict someone if the evidence does not support it, just to make a mob happy.
I saw the exact same thing happen in Watts. Business owners of multiple ethnicities were sobbing in the aftermath that they’d been ruined. The community harmed itself with a night of anarchy.
I wish we had a MLK today. All we have are the Sharptons of the world who gleefully declare what they think happened, whipping up the crowd.
I believe that Martin Luther King, Jr would be heartbroken to see the community wreck its own businesses. Wonder how many jobs will be lost tonight when businesses go under?
Why were the pictures deleted? Why was the racist poetry deleted? Obviously JT had a reason he deleted them. Take it up with him. I didn’t ask him to delete anything. I wish he would’ve left them up as a record, but I suspect he didn’t want his blog connected with such stuff.
“In the end, it rings hollow to cry “no justice, no peace” when you are rioting or looting. There can be no justice if it is merely the result of demonstrations rather than demonstrated facts. Otherwise, the scales of justice become just one more object to throw through the window of an appliance store.”
That’s exactly what is happening now. There will be no business left in Ferguson. Their looting and burning down everything.
Brown’s death was a choice, by Brown himself. Brown made the decision to rob a store and assault the owner, Brown made the decision to assault Officer Wilson and try and steal his service weapon, Brown made the decision to come back at Officer Wilson. Brown made these choices, no white cop made them for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Karen S….the looters have plenty of support from all these non-racists hereabouts.
Excuse me while I vomit.
happy:
I personally do not think that government officials should get raises when they have to make cuts.
We should all be in the same boat.
And a LOT of people are ignorant when it comes to money!
Well, now they are looting Ferguson Market and Liquor in honor of Mike Brown. If the cops would shoot a few of them, the rest would haul buns out of there.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
fiver said….
The internet apparently now provides the anonymity that cowardly bigots previously required white hoods to achieve.
Inga said….
So right fiver. Racism on display tonight on these threads. Is this what RIL has become now?
Inga, you are a hypocrite and a mendacious one at that. You know who I am and yet you agree with the idiot “fiver” that racists are hiding behind anonymity? I am on this thread and I hide behind no anonymity. How about you? How about Fiver? You, either of you, want to update your profiles or provide your names and locations?
Prove you are not anonymous like the rest of us “cowards?”
When you throw out blanket racist charges to all those who do not agree with you, on this thread, you are including me. I am as much a part of “RIL” as you are, so what makes you Queen of this hop?
I merely called your four card straight.
BTW…went through this on LGF long ago, years ago, and I offered my entire address and am still awaiting the arrival of the punks who tried to call me out.
You just need to shut up sometimes…before you be-clown yourself more than necessary.
McDonalds broken into.
Because clearly McyDee’s is to blame.
Is it the media that makes the mob feel like it has permission to loot the businesses of their neighbors?
Now Ferguson Market and Liquor store is getting wrecked and looted.
This has nothing to do with justice, or right and wrong.
This is about a night of anarchy. People feel like they have approval to do whatever they want, steal whatever they want. Fun and games and stealing stuff. Why do none of them seem concerned about facing their parents after being caught looting on TV?
I hope they arrest these people.
@slohrss and Nicks
Inga has just demonstrated why lefties have a hard time outside of an echo chamber. On a liberal site, she could simply allege the pictures were racist, and nobody would question her. She would get “likes” and agreement. Here, where she has to explain WHY the pictures are racist, she is stumped, and has to run for the hills.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I am pleased the grand jury evidence was released. I plan on reading it. And, obviously MSNBC is racist as well as all the other cable news outlets. They are showing vandalism, arson, gunshots, by black people. The narration is widely disparate depending on the network, but the visuals are all “RAAAAACIST.” The MSM got what they prayed for.