On the eve of the decision not to prosecute of Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, state prosecutors are considering charges against Michael Brown’s family. While potentially explosive in light of the rejection of civil rights charges, the case is based on what is reported as criminal acts of assault and theft by Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden and other family members.
The incident stems from who is entitled to cash in on the name of Michael Brown. A “Justice for Mike Brown” stand was set up outside of a restaurant to sell teeshirts and other items. One of the vendors was Pearlie Gordon, 54, the mother-in-law of Michael Brown Sr. (who is divorced from McSpadden).
The police say that a group of about 20-30 suspects “jumped out of vehicles and rushed” Gordon, Tony Petty, and Matthew Cosey. McSpadden, 34, is quoted as saying “You can’t sell this shit.” What reportedly ensued was an intense debate of who had trademark options on the name of the dead teenager. Gordon reportedly states that “unless McSpadden could produce documentation stating that she had a patent on her son’s name she (Gordon) was going to continue to sell her merchandise.” Police say that Desureia Harris, McSpadden’s mother, then began to rip down t-shirts while other family members began “tearing her booth apart.” Gordon allegedly was knocked to the ground and repeatedly struck in the head. Gordon accused McSpadden of running up and punching her while one of McSpadden’s group encouraged her to “get her ass.”
Also accused is McSpadden’s husband, Louis Head, who was previously the subject of calls for prosecution in his encouraging protesters to “Burn this bitch down” after no charges were brought against Wilson.
Petty was also transported to a local hospital for treatment of “injuries sustained during the assault.” Police also found that more than $1500 in merchandise and $400 in cash “was stolen by unknown subjects” during the assault and that they fled before the arrival of the police.
To make matters worse for the Brown family, there is a witness as well as a videotape showing the assault on the vendors, according to police.
That record would seem highly compelling for criminal charges. They have sworn statements from the alleged victim, third-party witnesses and a possible videotape showing a vendor being pinned on the ground. That does not rule out defenses based on claims that the vendors started the fight. However, self-defense would not excuse the alleged taking of merchandize and cash.
In a normal situation, there would have already been arrests and charges in such a case. However, this case seems anything but conventional and prosecutors may be more timid after prior events triggered arson and looting. The delay may be a reflection of that caution, but (absent new evidence) there may be no avoiding arrests in the case since at least two people were sent to the hospital and violence was involved in the alleged crimes.
Here is the police report: Brown Family police report
And another thing, with the Grand Jury refusing to indict and the DOJ finding Wilson’s actions to be reasonable, upon what underlying act are you resting a possible manslaughter or negligent homicide charge?
Mespo: “In addition, the report made certain findings about the lack of credibility of witnesses who supported the Brown family’s version of events.”
Care to tell the class why the “Brown family’s version of events” would be relevant to a detached, neutral and COMPETENT investigator?
You’re not interested in truth; you’re interested in preserving your narrative.
Mespo: “Great legal theory, however in practice”
A good example of the Grand Jury acting in the way McCulloch used it in Ferguson is….
“when a prosecutor presents a case to the grand jury despite the expectation, or belief, that the grand jury will not indict. One consideration in making this determination may be that the decision to dismiss in certain cases ought to be made by the “voice of the community” rather than the voice of the DA. In this way the DA can stand behind the action of the grand jury but, at the same time, not divulge why the case was dismissed because the proceedings are secret. Doing away with the grand jury system eliminates this safety valve. The DA will then be forced to either dismiss the case on his/her own motion prior to the hearing, or risk an acquittal in the superior court.”
http://campus.udayton.edu/~grandjur/recent/hnygjw.htm
“What you prefer, out of “malice and personal ill will,” is just what the law is designed to protect the innocent against:
The grand jury serves as “a primary security to the innocent against hasty, malicious and oppressive persecution; it serves the invaluable function in our society of standing between the accuser and the accused, whether the latter be an individual, minority group, or other, to determine whether a charge is founded upon reason or was dictated by an intimidating power or by malice and personal ill will.” (Wood v. Georgia 370 U.S. 375 at 390 (1962))”
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Great legal theory, however in practice, the Grand Jury is the plaything of the DA. He can sway it any way he wants. Hence the adage about the indictable ham sandwich. Come on! I’ve had savvier discussions with pre-law students.
Paul:
” Child sacrifice was not morally approved, it was a sacrifice to God. ”
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Er, Paul. If the font of all morality asks you to do something, it means it’s morally approved:
“God said to him, “Abraham!” Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there.”
~ Gen. 17:9
mespo – if God tells you to kill your son, then God is letting you off the hook, but that does not make it moral. Moral means that it is the correct behavior for everybody. If it was right for everybody, then it would not a sacrifice.
mespo magic square number
mespo727272
Speaking of the topic, Paul, here’s the question that usually got me kicked out of adult Sunday school: “If requested by the Creator of all, would you sacrifice your child on a stone altar with an iron knife? There’s precedent for it, you know.”
When allowed to remain, I usually got the drivel about Jesus changing all that in the New Testament. That was usually met with stunned silence when I reminded my pious friends that Matthew 5:17-18 (KJV) proudly proclaims Jesus saying:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill it. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Love those jots and tittles.
And all that stulff you argued with Schulte about too.
It got me kicked out too. Seriously. I was asked to leave in N County St Louis and just stay to sing in the Choir right after my Husband had his stroke. lol.
Believe it or not we are making progress in that area in the Christian Church. The Pastor now says “Perhaps it was the wrong God Abraham was sacrificing Issac to”
Molech — Phoenician god — Worship of Molech included child sacrifice by “passing the child through fire.” Often newborn babies were placed in the arms of a statue of Molech which was surrounded by fire and the babies were consumed as a burnt offering. Parents believed that sacrificing their firstborn to Molech might help increase their financial prosperity.
Amon-Ra — Egyptian creator and sun god — along with his “son” Pharaoh, Ra had the ability to punish human beings on a massive scale if they mocked him or upset him in any way. The role of Pharaoh as Horus, or the son of Ra, elevated him to a god-like status which allowed him to get away with something as horrible as the mass killing of infant boys
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill it. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Really Mespo???
Isaiah 53 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not . 4Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows. yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5He was wounded by our transgressions he was bruised by our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
So what is it? Did he just hang himself on a Cross because he was confused or was he fulfilling the law?
Is it a paradox
I have preformed the Spring Version of Handels Messiah now for 6 years in a row during Lent and I know this is a way for people to save themselves. I am not talking about going out and killing in the name of some God. Or any other Redemptive form of Worship. I am referring to giving yourself over to The Spirit and Truth as that is the greatest freedom there is.
It is a paradox
If you go through the Gospels you will find that Jesus never says Redemption one time. That is a Jonathan Edwards word.
He says Sanctify like to purify. But that is cool. 😉
Bob:
As you know full well, the Wilson DOJ report concluded that there was no credible evidence to support a prosecution under federal civil rights laws. It made no conclusions about state charges and specifically stated circumstances about which it was not opining such as Wilson misinterpreting Brown’s actions or violations of police procedure in the way Wilson handled teh matter which could have led to manslaughter or negligent homicide charges. In addition, the report made certain findings about the lack of credibility of witnesses who supported the Brown family’s version of events. A jury might have concluded otherwise. The finding is not an exoneration; it’s merely a decision not to prosecute for federal crimes and that’s what the report says.
Mark,
I know you didn’t read the report. And yet you correct me as to its contents.
Such as:
“about which it was not opining such as Wilson misinterpreting Brown’s actions”
It actually did address whether Wilson’s interpretations of Brown’s actions were reasonable.
As a child, were you able to stand before the class and give a report on a book that you didn’t read without any shame whatsoever?
Bob Stone – I could give a book report on anything. Those Classic Comicbooks were handy. 😉
nick:
“Provinciality is not becoming. I’ve dealt w/ thousands of cops in 3 time zones. Cops in big cities, medium sized cities, and small towns. I know the good, bad and ugly vis a vis cops. Et vous?”
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Disparate impact theory.
What a load of crap.
alyssa,
Ferguson PD Arrest Rate per 1000 residents.
Black: 186.1
White: 66
Santa Monica, CA Arrest Rate per 1000 residents
Black: 630.7
White: 91
BTW, Santa Monica, CA voted for Obama over Romney 35,991 to 9,772.
“The 6 most damning findings from the DOJ’s report on racism in the city of Ferguson”
http://www.vox.com/2015/3/4/8149337/doj-ferguson-report-police-racism
“The disparities also apply to the disproportionate number of police actions against black residents. A report from the Missouri attorney general’s office found that, although black people were 67 percent of Ferguson’s population in 2013, they made up more than 93 percent of arrests carried out by Ferguson police that same year.
The statistics and ongoing disparities are why some experts argue that Ferguson’s — and America’s — problems run much deeper than the shooting of Michael Brown. “The shooting of Michael Brown was the final straw for people in Ferguson,” Darnell Hunt, a UCLA professor and expert on civil unrest and race relations said.”
Paul C. Schulte,
Apparently “Every Single One” of them Is blinded by their anti-cop agenda.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/doj-investigation-of-ferguson-police-fair-and-impartial/
A man who has lived his entire life in the same area, knows little. But, he thinks he knows everything. Provinciality is not becoming. I’ve dealt w/ thousands of cops in 3 time zones. Cops in big cities, medium sized cities, and small towns. I know the good, bad and ugly vis a vis cops. Et vous?
Nick:
“If the goal is to get rid every racist cop you will have to shut down virtually every dept. in this country. ”
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And I’m the guy with no sleep? You’re positively comatose.
Paul:
The Durango Kid and Johnny Mack Brown and Lash make up the Holy Cowboy Trinity.
mespo – not a fan of the Durango Kid, but you cannot leave out Red Ryder and Little Beaver.
Speaking of the topic, Paul, here’s the question that usually got me kicked out of adult Sunday school: “If requested by the Creator of all, would you sacrifice your child on a stone altar with an iron knife? There’s precedent for it, you know.”
When allowed to remain, I usually got the drivel about Jesus changing all that in the New Testament. That was usually met with stunned silence when I reminded my pious friends that Matthew 5:17-18 (KJV) proudly proclaims Jesus saying:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill it. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Love those jots and tittles.
mespo –
Depends on how you feel about getting instructions from a burning bush. 😉
An older article:
Missouri cities sued over municipal court practices
By Spencer S. Hsu February 8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/ferguson-and-jennings-mo-sued-over-municipal-court-practices/2015/02/08/256da2d2-ae4f-11e4-abe8-e1ef60ca26de_story.html
“Civil rights lawyers filed federal lawsuits Sunday night accusing authorities in Ferguson and Jennings, Mo., of running the equivalent of debtors’ prisons by illegally jailing hundreds of mostly poor, black residents for unpaid debts, many of them from traffic tickets.
Local plaintiffs represented by lawyers with Washington-based Equal Justice Under Law, Arch City Defenders of St. Louis and Saint Louis University School of Law sought class-action status in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, charging that the two cities’ municipal court policies violate the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits jailing those too poor to pay and allows the punishment only for those with means who willfully refuse.
The suits, reported by the New York Times and NPR, are part of an effort by legal advocates nationwide to target what they call racially and economically skewed practices by which the criminal-justice system has increasingly passed costs on to defendants. The practices criminalize poverty, civil liberties groups say, fueling the kind of frustrations that erupted after the fatal police shooting last August in Ferguson of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
In a report last year, Arch City Defenders, a nonprofit legal clinic, traced tensions between many low-income black residents and mainly white local authorities in part to policies by many of the area’s decentralized local courts.
More than half the courts in St. Louis County engage in “illegal and harmful practices” of charging high fines and fees for nonviolent offenses and arresting people who do not pay, the group said. The group’s co-founder, Thomas Harvey, cited as typical “poverty violations” driving with a suspended license or expired registration or no proof of insurance.
An October study by the nonprofit group Better Together found that municipal courts in St. Louis and St. Louis County collected nearly half of the $132 million in fines paid statewide, despite being home to fewer than 1 in 4 Missourians. The county collected one-third of the statewide total, with just 1 out of 9 state residents.”
Mespo only got a few hours sleep. He’s going to be extra cranky today. Good thing he’s not in court.
If the goal is to get rid every racist cop you will have to shut down virtually every dept. in this country. It’s like the stupid notion of deporting all illegal aliens. The restaurant biz would implode. Most of the racists cops weren’t so when they started out. They are created working the mean streets. I’ve seen it. This is a very complex problem. Jumping up and down about a few racist cops being shit canned in a small Mo. town shows an abject ignorance of this issue. You do realize black cops working the inner city turn into racists, hating black people as well. Of course you didn’t.
Paul:
All morality is relative in the sense that we make it so. Don’t believe it. Get a history book or even the Bible where child sacrifice at the behest of the Creator is morally approved.
mespo – you need to re-read the Bible. Child sacrifice was not morally approved, it was a sacrifice to God. Child sacrifice was common with many cultures. The Romans sacrificed children who were deformed. Other cultures have sacrificed children especially during droughts. To sacrifice your child is the greatest sacrifice you can make to god.
Good historians judge acts by the morality and religious precepts of the time, not those of today. That is why I have a hard time with sharia law. I do not like the law, but it is their law, their religion.
Bob:
“Once again, how do you pontificate about that which you haven’t read?
You’re either a bad psychic or a liar.”
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Or you missed the abundantly clear implication that I don’t put much stock in it. You need a dictionary if you think saying you don’t believe something is credible as not being tested by the usual truth safeguards and hence disregard it makes one a “liar” or a “bad psychic.” Or if you think “pontificate” means you that criticize the basis for a conclusion. Try Dictionary.com
Mespo: “BTW the DOJ report did not clear Wilson.”
Once again, your psychic powers have failed you:
DOJ Report on Wilson: “Given that Wilson’s account is corroborated by physical evidence and that his perception of a threat posed by Brown is corroborated by other eyewitnesses… there is no credible evidence that Wilson willfully shot Brown AS he was attempting to surrender or was otherwise NOT posing a threat.” (pg. 86)
A finding no credible evidence inculpating Wilson is the definition of “clearing” him.
Mespo: “I’d have preferred a trial where witnesses have to answer under oath before their community. That’s how we do things when the process works.”
What you prefer, out of “malice and personal ill will,” is just what the law is designed to protect the innocent against:
The grand jury serves as “a primary security to the innocent against hasty, malicious and oppressive persecution; it serves the invaluable function in our society of standing between the accuser and the accused, whether the latter be an individual, minority group, or other, to determine whether a charge is founded upon reason or was dictated by an intimidating power or by malice and personal ill will.” (Wood v. Georgia 370 U.S. 375 at 390 (1962))
Mespo: “Or you missed the abundantly clear implication that I don’t put much stock in it.”
Because you didn’t read it or because you don’t put much stock in the DOJ Criminal Division?
Personally, I don’t put much stock in the Civil Rights Division.
Not only are their “disparate impact” conclusions bereft of logic but their math skills are atrocious as well:
http://www.amren.com/news/2015/03/doj-uses-faulty-calculation-in-ferguson-report/
Bob Stone – one would think the DoJ could do middle school math. Guess not.