No Bill
Their decision is not really an issue of believing five witnesses versus believing one or two witnesses. Credibility will be determined by which witnesses' testimony is supported by the forensic evidence (autopsy, blood spatter, casing location ...).
you are forgetting that it will depend on the makeup of the members of the grand jury.
Call me naïve, but I think the GJ will go by the evidence and there will be no charges.
In order to prevent more rioting .....
no indictment...go home.
My prediction - the feds are given a heads up that it’s a no bill. The feds ask for and get timing of release on their schedule. At the same presser wher the DA announced the GJ no-billed the case, the DOJ announces it is charging Wilson.
With Obola, Holder, Jackson and Sharpton all sitting on their heads, I say they hand down an indictment.
We have no idea what the witnesses actual testimony was. We only know what they said when interviewed by press or what they posted on twitter. Making a statement under oath with penalties of perjury and having to answer direct questions about their testimony can have an affect on a person.
Obama will have the decision held until after the midterms.
The decision will be announced on the following Saturday morning after the Friday evening news dump that announces the amnesty executive order and Ebola martial law.
I think he will face baseless charges in MO.
They will be to afraid for their lives to no bill him so will pass the buck to a judge and jury.
A friend of mine just was hired and started his training as a cop. He’s 35 years old - not a yahoo, and smart.
Based on what he’s learned and told me ... in my opinion ... given the evidence of the assault in the car, unless there is probable cause that Brown was headed away from the officer, there is no way to indict.
The standard seems to be here, the cop has the right to use the gun if ‘a reasonable person would have feared for his safety’.
Also, once you start shooting, you don’t shoot to wound. 2 to the mid section, one above the nose. That seems to be the general pattern Wilson followed.
So ... unless there is probable cause that Brown was headed away, not towards, Wilson is in the clear. Once he started shooting, wouldn’t even matter if Brown raised his hands in surrender after the first bullet hit him. Once you shoot at all, you shoot to end it, fast.
I am the friend of a good guy in training but not yet at the academy ... I’m not an authority and nor is he yet.
I’ll copy what I wrote and send to my friend, see if he has anything to add. I’m sure some real coops have already commented.
No indictment. Remember this officer voluntarily put himself with benefit of counsel in front of 12 jurors and 2 prosecutors who could ask him any question they wished reference the case. He stayed in there for four hours.
Guilty people do not subject themselves to this. This was always a non-starter and the key witness for the prosecution, Dorian Johnson, is a proven liar who was instrumental in fomenting the violence that went afterward.
I think that Johnson was interviewed by the FBI, and after being duly warned that lying to an agent was a criminal offense, and that if he assisted in the assault of Wilson, he could be charged with murder 2nd Degree under Revised Statute of Missouri. Johnson spilled to save his butt and now is in hiding, like Wilson.
Look at the events.
Sharpton and Jackson abruptly depart
Holder announces resignation
the autopsy proves that Johnson was lying
“Josie”, friend of Officer Barbara Spradling, girlfriend of Wilson, gives her account as told to her by the couple
the DOJ leak
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed making a last ditch symbolic submission to arrest to promote non-violence
then Governor Nixons sudden meeting in Ferguson to talk about non-violence and moving forward in the aftermath.
Yep, this one is a no-bill all the way. It’s three more weeks of conciliatory talk until the elections are over then the press conference by the prosecutor comes out.
The the blood flows and fires rage.
Not enough data to make an informed opinion.
There is more evidence than just witness testimony to back up stories or shoot them down...like blood spatter IN THE CAR and on the gun backing up the officer’s statement that the dead man reached in the car for his gun so he shot him.
That is how the case will be decided - on all the evidence which we are not privy to yet - in addition to witness jaws flapping.
I don’t think grand juries hear from defense lawyers at all; only from the DA and his staff.