Posted on 04/21/2016 7:09:39 PM PDT by Auntie Mame
ST. LOUIS (CN) — A federal judge has ordered the release of witness names and some evidence in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, but only to parties involved in the Brown family's wrongful death lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber announced after a hearing Wednesday that he would order the limited release of the names and under a protective order, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. His ruling also included witness interviews and statements made to police and the FBI, statements read to grand jurors and autopsy photographs.
Webber said that disclosure was necessary to prevent a "gross injustice."
Attorneys for the federal government, St. Louis County police and prosecutors fought to keep the information sealed. They feared for the safety of witnesses, their families and investigators.
Attorneys pointed towards the rioting that followed a St. Louis County grand jury's decision to not indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Brown, as reasons for their concern.
Government lawyers claimed various legal exemptions and argued that no protective order would keep the names secret, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Attorneys on both sides of the case claimed the lawsuit could not advance with so much information being kept secret.
Webber said he spent 150 hours reading all of the witnesses' testimony. Almost all gave two interviews, with many accounts evolving with news coverage.
Webber found that access to timely recollections would better serve the civil case.
Though well aware of the safety concerns, Webber said they do not rise to the level of the "clear and present danger" necessary to block release of the information. He gave lawyers 10 days to develop an order that would keep the information secret.
The case does not affect the secrecy of the names of the grand jurors themselves, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Justice Department lawyers declined to comment to the Post-Dispatch on whether they would appeal Webber's ruling.
Both state and federal investigations failed to find cause to indict Wilson, who shot Brown during an August 2014 altercation in Ferguson, Mo. The shooting sparked months of often violent protests and brought the topics of racism and excessive police force into the national conversation.
Wilson has since left the Ferguson police department.
Brown's family filed the wrongful death lawsuit April 23, 2015. The family claims the shooting could have been prevented. Ferguson, Wilson and former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson are named as defendants.
Why? Why is this important? Are the bastards trying to get people killed?
“The family claims the shooting could have been prevented.”
~~~
That’s true. If you don’t strongarm-rob a convenience store and then decide to go mano a mano with a police officer, you can prevent being shot.
Either that or it's Bush's fault.
The new meme is Trump’s fault.
Ah, a forward looking meme!
Getting people killed....
Has already happened to 2 grand jury witnesses
Just cleaning up who the other snitches are...
They better flee now...
A safer place would be ISIS— we do not target them
Sarc
Eric Holder already had one witness offed.
Yes.
Judges are from the planet Mongo
Uh, yeah, if Brown had not tried to head butt the officer who shot him out of fear for his life.
But then, his mother and grandmother fought over T-shirt sales.
Now their stash is gone so now they file a civil shut to get mo' money.
What a bunch of crap.
Michael Brown and Treyvon Martin died for the same reason: each attacked a man who had a gun and knew how to use it.
OMG, it looks like they will have to shoot the rest of the Brown family!/S
Some witness will be the victims of random drive by shootings or hammers to the back of the head. The names are being released to the people who want them dead and have the influence to get that accomplished.
This is a direct consequence of our nation having no spine for adult corporal punishment. I’d bet you money that if both of them had received a well-earned lashing earlier in their lives for some petty crime, they would likely be productive citizens or at least not have done what they did. Instead they were pretty much allowed to run out of control like a wild dog...until at last they were too big a threat and had to be put down like one.
Punishment saves more lives than just the people who don’t break the law. It saves the lives of those who break it once and then are mortally terrified of doing so again.
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