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, you’re a trigger-happy woman. And you’re wrong.
@Michael Haz
If the looters shoot back, then return fire. That’s pretty simple. Now like if you said, if the cops come across a single looter carrying a few bottle of gin, then arrest is the best answer. But what if you come across 20 or 30 people breaking into a store??? The Governor should have already announced that policy if he was going to bring the National Guard in. If them and the cops are not there to preserve order, then what are they there for???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Louis-County-Police/122091914476260?pnref=story
Karen: FD and EMT personnel will not go into a situation where there is live gunfire. Buildings are insured.
Answer my question Squeeky:
“Just shoot. Sure. But what if the looters also have guns? Then what, cowgirl?”
Michael Haz – if the looter have guns then it becomes a firefight.
They are taking up collections of water and credit cards for them as far as 150 miles away. This I know.
Michael H:
Do you think if anyone’s house or business burns down because the fire department finds it too crowded or unsafe to get there in time, that people will sue the city? Blame the city rather than the mob?
I recall the OJ Simpson murder case. One of my close friends was involved the OJ Simpson trial. He was the detective Mark Fuhrman, whom was charged with perjury because he couldn’t remember if he said the ‘n-word’ ten years before.
I also had knowledge from the people on the defense side. Another friend was Bill Pavelic. I met with him in Portland and we discussed this case. There was so much that wasn’t present to the jury. Pavelic told me that he and Bob Kardashian cleaned out OJ’s house after the first ‘general’ search warrant was issued and then 7 days later, a more ‘specific’ search warrant was issued, but by then, they had cleaned out OJ’s home and failed to obtain the forensic evidence needed to convict. Pavelic told me that they took what they could get out of OJ’s home and sent it to Mexico and Kardashian took it there.
I got to ask OJ a question directly. I asked him what he did with the knife from the empty Swiss Army box sitting on the side of the master tub. This is another highly charged racial case but I know for a fact that OJ Simpson committed a double homicide. This had a profound affect on all of America that he got off.
Jettexas – the forensics were so screwed up on the OJ case that I was surprised the jury took as long as they did. One of the defense attorneys said they never went after the blood on the socks because they had so much other stuff, but that the blood had preservative in it. They had used a blood sample from OJ and dripped it on the socks.
Mark Fuhrrman screwed the pooch when he denied on the stand under oath he had ever used the word. And it was not like he use it once, he used it a lot of times, it was part of his working vocabulary. F. Lee Bailey set him up on the tee and then they hit him with a big driver later. Once Fuhrman was proved a liar, all his previous testimony was suspect, which included the blood drops on the van, which he somehow saw in the dark.
I watched that trial and there was a huge difference between what I was seeing every day and what was being reported.
And I won’t even get started on the glove fiasco.
I suspect the looters would run. My goodness, what is the National Guard and the police there for if not to protect people and their property. Plus, looters need to have something to lose, or there will be looting every time the wind blows.
Squeeky: Having just witnessed what Officer Wilson is going through because he shot a man who was assaulting him and had tried to shoot him with his service gun, what do you think would happen to a cop who shoots someone for taking a couple of bottles of gin?
Use your head about this.
@KarenS
Personally, I think it will continue to be a fun game for the looters as long as nobody shoots at them. Right now, none of them think anything at all will happen to them, sooo why not go wild and break into stores and rip off stuff. I don’t think shooting looters is such a wild concept. To heck with all this silly pandering to a bunch of thugs and crooks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWoLGC-n4i4
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Karen – the Governor is a Democrat and I am on a Tear right now – you will have to forgive me….. He is a total hypocrite – there are no mental health professionals left to be had in this state. I get you Squeeky and Paul and the Woody Allen Jive
Squeeky:
If looters break into someone’s home, they could definitely get shot.
I just don’t want that to happen. But I do want them arrested. They need to have consequences for their actions, or they’ll keep doing this. This mob has been ginned up for months with false allegations.
Attempt #3: Which photos/poems were deleted, and what were the racist comments made?
Without clarification, it sounds like everyone is getting pained with the broad brush of the race card.
@Inga
Well, I don’t apologize for it. You go around rioting and looting, you ought to get shot.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
squeeky – since we have stopped shooting looters we have had more of it.
No photos were deleted except in the mind of deluded liberals who refuse to believe their lying eyes.
Unfortunately there will be a whole bunch of new “racist” photos tomorrow.
Let’s just hope only property is lost and not any lives.
That’s your Squeeky, you guys own her. She’s all yours.
I don’t want looters shot either. Just arrested.
They do this because they think there will be no consequences. Or that the cops are too overwhelmed to do anything.
We had enough warning. It would be nice if they had a long line of paddy wagons, and kept jerking people off the street, holding stolen TVs and alcohol, and driving them off to jail.
I hope no one gets shot tonight. I hope the mob doesn’t try to hurt any cops. One dead cop might be as good as another. And I also hope no more teenagers get hurt while committing a crime.
Go home. Fight with your words, or better yet, discuss the matter calmly.
@Michael Haz
I suspect the looters would run. My goodness, what is the National Guard and the police there for if not to protect people and their property. Plus, looters need to have something to lose, or there will be looting every time the wind blows.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky:
Weren’t the Korean store owners from the Watts riots? Where they patrolled their store with firearms and prevented any damage or looting.