Ferguson / Staten Island Decisions -- No Indictments

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

All of this discussion isn't really addressing the issue of yesterday, which is... Why the hell wouldn't a grand jury indict him?

Conflicting testimony should be a reason to indict, so a trial can hopefully get to the truth. It shouldn't be brought up as a reason not to indict. There wasn't "probable cause" to indict someone for shooting another person multiple seven or eight times?

Indicting a person is not convicting them. It seems people are confused about that.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

LTL, according to Missouri law, all the justification Wilson needed for using deadly force was a reasonable fear that his life was in danger.

Like it or not, the physical evidence I've read about strongly suggests that Brown continued to advance toward him after being struck in the right arm.

If Brown really did initiate the original physical confrontation -- including the big no-no of reaching for Wilson's gun -- I don't think it would be a hard sell for a grand jury to agree that Wilson's life was in danger.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Much like trial juries, grand juries also are allowed to take credibility of the witnesses into account.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

If the witnesses against Wilson were both conflicting and not credible (which they seem to be), and the physical evidence shows that Brown continued to advance toward Wilson after being ordered to surrender, there is no probable cause under Missouri law to support an indictment.

If that's the case, why let it go to a jury, where all sorts of possibilities would exist for Wilson to be wrongfully convicted?

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Eh, quit complaining, blacks. Cops fuck up everyone. Read up.

The Fullerton cop told the white guy that he was going to "fuck him up". Acquitted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas
Warning : DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK IF YOU HAVE A QUEASY STOMACH. Its the Kelly Thomas 'after'.
http://parrishmiller.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/kelly-thomas-before-and-after.jpg


This white guy was killed for holding a water pistol in LB.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/man-killed-by-long-beach-police-was-holding-a-water-nozzle.html

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

You keep jumping back to the number of shots fired. One lethal shot is as much a justification to indict as 12. In this case, the officer was found to have acted with justification in shooting his weapon based on the perceived threat Brown gave. At that point, you are going to have a very hard time proving that the sixth, seventh or eighth round fired was excessive.
If the kid was shot once, fell to the ground with his arms out and the officer was no longer in danger and the cop pulled a Dirty Harry on the kid, that's a different story.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

This.

I went to high school there and never really liked the area. Attended the bluest of the blue-blood public high school district.

Couldn't wait to leave and go to school three states away, which I did.

St. Louis is one of the most provincial areas you could ever have, an unspoken caste system based on where you did go to high school. For example, you could tell me a high school and I could probably correctly stereotype what your parents did for a living.

As one who went to HS about 10 miles from Ferguson (granted, more than 20 years ago), I knew NEVER to go "up there" at night unless you were asking for an adventure. Likewise, I had friends who were African-American who absolutely didn't want to go to South County (anywhere south of I-44) at night because of the racism they would experience down there.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

WaPo graphic showing the sequence of events.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/ferguson-grand-jury-findings/?hpid=z1

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

right here

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Another aspect I don't understand from that graphic.

Brown "tussled" with Wilson, then Brown ran away when the shots were fired from inside the car. Then, Brown had a change of heart, and ran at Wilson, while Wilson was firing more shots at him? This makes zero sense.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

I see you neglect to mention the head shots. How does that final head shot when he's already down fit in with "merely trying to disable"?

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Is there evidence he shot him in the head when he was down? I haven't seen anything like that.