Chris Tognotti
Posted on 09/20/2014 4:18:39 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Don’t forget about Michael Brown and the people of Ferguson. We’ve largely moved on from reading about the daily and nightly protests, civil unrest, and the toxic relationship between the St. Louis County suburb’s police force and its citizens, but this story is far from over — Michael Brown’s killer, after all, is still on paid leave. It all raises an obvious question: When will Officer Darren Wilson be charged for shooting Brown, if at all?
The simplest answer is that it could be a long time, if it even happens at all. That’s because the decision whether or not to charge him criminally for the death of the unarmed Ferguson teen is squarely in the hands of a St. Louis grand jury, and they’ve been given an extension on their timeframe to make the call. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the grand jury will now have until Jan. 7, 2015 to decide. That doesn’t mean they definitely will — they could come out next week with their decision, theoretically — but it could be that “justice for Michael Brown” is still a long ways off.
Wilson’s current status has been one of many instigating factors in the fervent protests throughout Ferguson — since the shooting, the people of Ferguson have weathered a militarized police force and the use of tear gas on otherwise peaceful protesters and journalists, while Wilson is effectively in hiding, collecting paychecks all the while. And that’s not the only cash he’s got coming in — a GoFundMe page supporting Wilson’s cause raised a staggering $235,125.
With tensions already as high as they are, it seems like a lot to ask the people of Ferguson to possibly wait over three months more just to find out if Wilson will face charges, but there you have it. It’ll be essential to follow how the community responds for that stretch of time.
Obviously, there’s no surefire guarantee that the 12-member grand jury will actually decide to indict Wilson (nine of the 12 need to agree to bring charges). There have been concerns by some advocates for Wilson’s arrest that Ferguson police may have tainted the jury pool with the release of a videotape of Brown committing an apparent petty robbery before his death, a wholly unrelated incident. The Blot’s Matthew Keys revealed Sept. 5 that Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson apparently lied about why the tape was released, claiming that media inquiries forced him to do so.
In any event, it’s looking like a long-haul kind of situation, with a community’s collective angst and humanity hanging in the balance. And no matter what the grand jury decides, the story isn’t going anywhere — a criminal trial for Wilson will be every bit the high-profile media event you’d expect, and if he’s not indicted, that’ll spark a severe amount of scrutiny too.
Michael Brown has already received justice. The only question remaining is whether Officer Darren Wilson will receive justice or be persecuted under color of law.
Chris Tognotti
Does he always write this poorly?
If Wilson is not indicted the entire community will cease to be human!
“———— with a community’s collective angst and humanity hanging in the balance”.
—
Thanks heaven I live in a place where the community’s humanity doesn’t depend on the results of one incident.
If Ferguson’s humanity hangs in the balance over this, I’d say it was already in deep trouble.
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Chris, take a stroll in Ferguson and do a “Man on the street” type segment.
Be sure to post your results. Idiot
If they don't like it they can move to some 3rd world country that has a different justice system. Actually that's a good idea.
The police departments all over America learned a lot from the Zimmerman trial. Everything Zimmerman said was dissected and ‘witnesses’ were found to refute his statements.
In the Ferguson case, the police are saying nothing. The alleged witnesses are all making up stories that can be refuted by evidence e.g., video, autopsy, etc.
Their lies will be used to disqualify them as witnesses.
Talk about liars, unrelated my butt!!!! At the very least two of the three people who were involved in that incident knew all about the strong armed robbery. That did in fact have a direct affect on the way they acted. You have to remember that they were not even a half hour from committing that crime and still on their way home from the store they robbed. They were still fleeing that crime when they were stopped by officer Wilson.
This author need to reconnect with truth, fact, and reality.
LIKE
Ferguson did not write the report, St. Louis County did and it is still being written so they won’t release it.
Also, in these cases the shooting officer, Wilson, will not write a report, only give a statement. He was only obligated to give a statement to the Ferguson Police Department for an internal affairs investigation to determine if his action was in policy. This is a condition of employment and the findings cannot be used in criminal prosecution. However, that Wilson gave a 4 hour testimony voluntarily to the GJ and seemingly with at least the tacit approval of his attorney, speaks volumes. He voluntarily walked into a lion’s den of citizens who can ask him anything.
The PA has promised to release all documents and testimony, audio from the GJ, if a judge will agree. IMHO, this is extremely rare and it shows that the PA has very little confidence that Wilson will be indicted and wants to be as transparent as possible.
If Wilson is indicted, be very worried. Remember, many of these protestors think that being white already makes you an agent of the government (see the Florida convenience store shooting) and if you as an armed citizen defend yourself against the perpetually aggrieved, you probably will be indicted.
It’s about revenge, not justice.
Well, if this schmuck protests, he won’t need a Guy Fawkes mask...
Who else would separate fact and reality to make their argument?
In some ways he already has been. Regardless of what happens with the grand jury, Darren Wilson will never work as a police officer in Ferguson or anywhere else ever again.
If the grand jury doesn't indict, Eric Holder can still go after him.
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