Posted on 10/22/2014 1:19:12 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
An addendum to Ed’s post this morning. Per WaPo, it’s not just the forensic evidence that’s backing Wilson up.
[M]ore than a half-dozen unnamed black witnesses have provided testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that supports Wilson’s account of events of Aug. 9, according to several people familiar with the investigation who spoke with The Washington Post.
Some of the physical evidence — including blood spatter analysis, shell casings and ballistics tests — also supports Wilson’s account of the shooting, the Post sources said, which cast Brown as an aggressor who threatened the officer’s life. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are prohibited from publicly discussing the case…
Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for the Brown family, said Brown’s family and supporters will not be persuaded by the autopsy report or eyewitness statements that back Wilson’s account of the incident…
Exactly how high Brown’s hands were has been inconsistent in the accounts, and at least one witness said that after Brown was shot, he appeared to take a step toward Wilson. That witness said, however, Brown had his arms around his stomach before hitting the ground.
The Post doesn’t specify which details from Wilson’s account were supported by the witnesses (none of whom want to be named, of course, lest they face reprisals for being honest). Did they corroborate the fight in the front seat of the squad car when, Wilson claims, Brown grabbed his gun? The physical evidence supports that too: One forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy report noted that Brown’s hand wound wouldn’t have had gunpowder particulate in it unless his hand had been on or right next to Wilson’s gun. Two shell casings were also found in Wilson’s squad car, per the Post, supporting the fact that the gun was discharged twice inside the vehicle. Or did the witnesses corroborate the fatal shooting later, after Brown had moved away from the car and Wilson had gotten out? That’s what the case will turn on: If Wilson ends up being indicted, prosecutors will argue that, yes, Brown might have reached for Wilson’s gun but the subsequent shooting was unnecessary. Brown was already wounded; Wilson was shooting out of rage, not to repel a mortal threat.
Realistically, though, how likely is it that he’s going to be indicted at this point? Crump says he has seven witnesses who’ll say that Wilson gunned Brown down unjustifiably. Great, says the defense, we have seven witnesses who say the opposite plus a pile of forensic evidence that shows Brown, who’d just committed a robbery at the local convenience store, not only assaulted a police officer but attempted to seize his firearm. There’s little doubt, barring some bombshell evidence that the public doesn’t know about, that Wilson’s not going to be convicted. The question now is whether he’ll be charged. One theory for all the leaks lately is that law enforcement is trying to prepare the public for the fact that grand jury is unlikely to return an indictment, but I don’t know: Given what Crump said in the excerpt above plus protesters vowing that “it’s going to be a war” if Wilson isn’t charged, sounds like releasing the evidence early isn’t going to calm anyone down. On the contrary, it may be that this is being leaked because Wilson supporters fear that he’ll be unfairly indicted anyway for political reasons, even though there’s no probable cause to think he murdered Brown. That’s probably the outcome city leaders would prefer — indictment followed by acquittal so that they can say the system took the incident seriously enough to force Wilson to defend his actions in open court. Think that result would calm people down? Me neither.
One more odd detail from WaPo’s story: “The Post sources said the levels in Brown’s body may have been high enough to trigger hallucinations.” Er, okay, but isn’t the fact that Brown had just apparently committed a crime minutes before Wilson rolled up a more likely explanation for why he got aggressive? He had obvious reasons to fear police scrutiny at the time. Reefer madness seems like an odd theory of the case.
Interesting insight.
We have one fear-the weight of media-driven PC public opinion against whites in any situation oppositional to a black person, unless that black person is a conservative, which is rarer than unicorns. And the judicial system being influenced by that public opinion, or jury nullification.
“will not be persuaded by the autopsy report or eyewitness statements “
my guess is they would not be persuaded by multiple HD Videos of the incident either.
When you are so heavily invested in a lie, no amount of objective evidence will persuade you otherwise.
Actually, the fact of high THC isn't a theory, and the fact that the level was high enough that it could have induced hallucinations is neither irrelevant nor an "odd theory".
Other than that, the article is quite good, and informative.
I hope they can keep the Black witnesses that told the truth anonymous or they’re dead meat!
Six Black witnesses? Don’t mean doodoo, they are all oreos and traitors! There is White truth and Black truth and the the only truth that matters to the animals in Mo. and around the world is the Black truth of racism that says they are victims and all else is a lie.
Oh, never mind, they must be snitches.
I personally like “the officer tried to pull the 6’4, 300 lb Brown through the window of his car” explanation that many of the nuts on lib websites still cling to. Yeah, that’s what all cops do when they stop a suspect...they try to pull them through the window. I guess I shouldn’t laugh because a cop’s life/career is being destroyed by ignorant lowlifes, but sometimes you have to laugh at the stupidity of liberals.
4:30 Ferugson time and still no verdict.
Have the Browns started the Gentle Giant Foundation® yet, and have they started fundraising through it?
crump and the family are guilty of inciting riot
The truth be damned, Al Sharpton says it was a racist cop gunning down an unarmed Black kid for no reason. That’s the narrative and no evidence or eye witness testimony to the contrary will change that narrative.
Not looking for a verdict. It is a Grand Jury, not a trial.
Nothing says justice like a new flat screen TV, doncha know.
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and a shopping cart full of liquor.....
I see what you did there.
That isn’t the case. Where black people are assured of being treated reasonably, they’re like anyone else. I’ve gotten to know a great many black people in the last ten years, after not knowing any on a personal level when I lived in a suburb in the Northeast. Now I live in a very integrated city that has a good economy and the black people here or no more or less friendly, courteous and considerate of others than people of any other race. I work in a downtown restaurant with customers of every type, and you could not judge a person’s behavior at all by their race. I also have black co-workers, and black friends, and they too are all individual.
WELL EXCUSE ME! to quote Steve Martin, don’t take obvious sarcasm and twist into an opus about racism, thank you very much. I guess I should have spoken of the Black, though I just try to think of people as people, people I know and have worked with. Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa!
Why isn’t Johnson being prosecuted?
The grand jury’s decision for no true bill in this case will be returned on a cold, snowy day in St. Louis.
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