Ferguson, St. Louis' Killer Cop Fiascal

     As always, I don't like to be hasty about posting on major current events - especially when it is possible that all of the facts haven't yet been revealed or if my post could potentially bias or taint a legal process. It is difficult to keep from speaking in the moment - especially on the Mike Brown incident because I live here in St. Louis and I know all about police brutality here. I have not only witnessed it throughout the entirety of my life but I have also experienced it all of my life. I have had few if any peaceful encounters with the police - even when I followed all of the "suggested" ways to behave when stopped by police. Whatever the case, I am free to speak now and I'm ready to unload.

   First and foremost, let me state upfront that I believe officer Daren Wilson was absolutely wrong to kill Mike Brown and that the police department and the prosecutor aided him in covering it up. I will lay out my case for this position using legal facts and known evidence. Before I begin, however; I would ask of those of you who hold the opposing view, that you rid yourself of all preconceived notions of either of these people involved: Mike Brown, Dorian Johnson, Darren Wilson. What I am going to ask of you is that you replace Mike Brown and Dorian Johnson with two of the nicest, friendliest, most intelligent teenage white boys that you know or know of, in your mind. Do the same thing for Officer Wilson - replace him with the an unemployed, unintelligent, thuggish black man, in your mind. Give him dreads and sagging pants if you like and definitely take away the badge and uniform. I ask these things of you because sometimes it's what's necessary in order for us to be fare. The fact is that we are naturally bias - we instinctively have a greater trust and willingness to be open and understanding towards people who look like us, or that we have something in common with, or that we have a reason to perceive as good/safe/trustworthy. So for this reason I am changing every body's names and races and even the scene of the incident so that we can see if we would see this all the same way if the people involved looked differently - if we removed the factors that we aren't supposed to be considering anyway.

   So here's the story retold:

Timmy Goldstein (Mike Brown) is an eighteen year old high school graduate who is a small, shy kid on his way to an ivy league university. On August 9th, 2014 Timmy's walking home with his school mate and friend in their suburban Ladue neighborhood. Bobby Henke (Dorian Johnson), Timmy's friend, is also a small shy kid on his way to university. While walking down the street a car approaches them from behind and pulls up next to them. There's a large angry-looking black man named Leroy Davis (Darren Wilson) driving the car. Leroy is upset that the kids are walking down the middle of the street and obstructing traffic so he tells them to get out of the middle of the street. The two boys explains to the man that they're almost at their destination and that they'll be out of the street shortly. Leroy pulls off but stops less than a block away and bags his car back up to confront them again. Leroy tries to get out of his vehicle but either the door bounces off of Timmy (that's Bobby's version of what happened) or Timmy pushed the door back onto Leroy (that's Leroy's version of what happened). Immediately after that, either Leroy got angry and grabbed Timmy through the car window and began fighting with him (Bobby's version) or Timmy lunged into the car window and began attacking Leroy (Leroy's version). Bobby became fearful and ducked behind a car for protection - too afraid to do anything but also afraid to abandon his friend, he watched the events unfold.

   Leroy was carrying a gun which he pulled out and fired two shots from within the car at Timmy. One shot hit Timmy and sent him running. Leroy got out of his vehicle and chased Timmy. Timmy eventually stopped running and turned towards Leroy - either because Leroy had continued firing at Timmy and he was afraid for his life and wanted to beg for mercy (Bobby's version), or Timmy decided that he was going to try and attack Leroy even though he was armed (Leroy's version). Leroy says that Timmy charged him so he fired several more shots which stopped Timmy briefly but Timmy continued to advance so he continued to shoot until Timmy was dead. According to Bobby and other witnesses, Leroy shot several shots at Timmy and after Timmy turned with his hands up to beg for mercy Leroy shot several more rounds. Timmy then stumbled forward, according to Bobby, and when Timmy didn't fall immediately, Leroy shot him several more times until he was dead. Regardless of who's version of that part of the story you choose to believe, the police eventually recover 12 rounds from the scene and of that 12 rounds, 7 successfully hit Timmy. There were many witnesses in the community - some of whom only saw a part of the incident - some of whom saw parts of the incident differently from others.

   When the police arrive, though they give Leroy the benefit of the doubt and accept his story that it was self defense because Timmy had beat him so badly in the car he thought Timmy would kill him, they don't immediately take Leroy to the hospital nor do they immediately outline and remove Timmy's body. In fact, Timmy's body sits out on display on the ground for 4 hours while Leroy is taken to the police department for questioning however; the police never take an official statement from Leroy the entire 2 hours he's at the police department. Leroy is taken to the hospital 2 hours after arriving at the police department where the doctors make note of some redness on his jaw (not consistent with a severe beating) and microscopic scratches on his neck. The witnesses to the incident were not immediately detained for official statements and the media was allowed onto the crime scene where they interviewed and broadcast witness statements before the police could speak to those witnesses, including Bobby's statement. The police did not instruct anyone to not speak to the media until the investigators had spoken to them.

   Though the prosecutor isn't supposed to play favorites, the fact of the matter is that he knows Leroy and Leroy's family well. Leroy's family members (police) have been accused of unlawful killings at least 4 times since this prosecutor has been in office and this prosecutor has failed to take either of them to trial. Though the prosecutor doesn't often convene the grand jury for approval to try someone on a murder case - especially where there are several witnesses and a questionable tale by the defendant, that's exactly what he does in this case and every case involving the Davis family.

   Hopefully, this version of events have led you to the same conclusion that the actual version of events led me to - that Leroy was not justified in killing Timmy. Timmy represents no physical threat to Leroy because he's smaller and unarmed. Mike represented no real physical threat to Wilson because, in spite of a slight height and weight advantage, he was unarmed against an individual with several weapons at his disposal including professional tactical training in subduing hostile individuals. Timmy was, based upon his lack of a criminal record and the fact that he was high school grad on his way to university, a good kid who did not possess a murderous/suicidal rage. In this way, Mike Brown was identical to Timmy. Timmy did not come from a place where people felt safe attacking strange and angry black men. Mike did not come from a place where people felt safe threatening a police officer's life. It is so unusual for anyone to be stupid enough to brazenly attempt to kill a police officer in Mike's type of neighborhood that when/if ever it happens, it's an actual crazed individual attempting to do so. This is true because the police in areas like Mike Brown's are white men from distant places who have nothing invested in the community they police but their camaraderie with their fellow officers and they will unleash all hell on a community where a cop is killed intentionally by a clear-minded person.

   For those of you who don't quite understand what a grand jury is, let me explain. The difference between a grand jury and a regular trial jury is that the grand jury's job is not to rake over every piece of evidence and witness statement with a fine-toothed comb to determine innocence or guilt. The grand jury's job is supposed to be to only find reason for the prosecutor to pursue charges against a suspect so that a real jury can determine if a crime actually took place. The grand jury is the PROSECUTOR'S tool. The grand jury is established to help the prosecutor decide to prosecute when he/she isn't sure. The grand jury is not on the side of justice because it is shut out to the defense - its purpose is one-sided - to give reason for prosecution. The bar is set freakishly low for the grand jury to arrive at an indictment and that's a redundancy built into the system so that the system doesn't accidentally allow murderers to avoid a real trial. In fact, the prosecutor doesn't even need a grand jury's indictment to prosecute - he/she could leave the decision, as to if there is reason enough to conduct a trial, up to a pretrial judge. Why wouldn't a prosecutor want to leave this decision up to a judge? Prosecutors prefer a grand jury when either the case against the suspect is really weak (as in - no murder weapon or witnesses accusing the suspect) or when the prosecutor himself has been brought into question by the defense (Leroy) and would like a fare review of his reasons for charging the suspect. The only other reason a prosecutor would rather convene the grand jury is when he/she wants to influence the outcome for the benefit of the defense - the prosecutor essentially sabotages the case so that he does not have to prosecute.

   The only thing the grand jury needs to determine is if the killing could have happened in the way described by Bobby or the other witnesses on/near the scene. Their job is not to determine who's telling the truth or what evidence is valid. They just need to determine if it is possible that the events unfolded differently and if there is anyone or anything to back that possibility up. Remember - the grand jury is the prosecutor's tool - intended to push him towards prosecution. The prosecutor's interest is supposed to be to find reason for a trial so that a true jury can get to the bottom of a killing. With that in mind it is understandable why it is unusual, self-defeating or could even be considered sabotage for a prosecutor to present evidence or witnesses to the grand jury that he himself have found to be incredible but that's exactly what this prosecutor did. This prosecutor not only admitted to taking the unusual step of dumping every single piece of evidence and witness statement on the grand jury as if they were a trial jury, but he also didn't bother to exclude the evidence or witnesses he found to be incredible. The result is that it takes the grand jury over three months to do what they normally do within a day or so and as can only be expected, they return no indictment.

   So here's this young white, well educated kid - on his way to an ivy league school, walking home with his friend in his wealthy neighborhood. He is approached by a large black man who exchanges word with him and ends up fighting with him, shooting him, chasing him, shooting him again, and finally, killing him and we're expected to believe that Leroy couldn't have done anything differently to avoid killing Timmy. We're expected to believe that Timmy is such a rage-crazed kid that he attacks strange black men who approach him in the streets and that Timmy, the university bound high school grad has murderous tendencies. We're expected to believe that Timmy tried to take Leroy's gun and KILL him with it. We're expected to believe that after being shot and trying to flee the person who had just shot him, Timmy, the small Jewish kid, goes into yet another rage that makes him able to ignore the pain of the first shots so that he can charge after Leroy without a weapon in his possession. We're expected to believe that Timmy charged into a rein of gun-fire because he is just so not afraid of dying and even after being shot with a flurry of bullets - he charges yet again - not run - not fall and surrender - he charges again! This flies in the face of all common sense but the worse expectation of all is that we're expected to believe that this could not have possibly happened any other way - Leroy had no choice or responsibility at any point during this incident that could have led to a different outcome.

   So now that you've heard this ridiculous tale of a suicidal rich kid who attacks angry black men who are armed with guns, let's add some additional information to be considered. Let's say that just before Leroy crossed paths with Timmy and Bobby, Timmy and Bobby had just jumped on a neighborhood kid and took his basketball. In fact, Timmy was still carrying the basketball when Leroy drove up.