Prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s handling of the Michael Brown shooting comes under question.
Already less than a week into the new year and the tragic shooting death of Ferguson, MO teen Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson is still dominating the headlines. With this and other very similar cases, the topic of police brutality and race relations is at the forefront of America’s psyche. Today, one of the members of the grand jury that declined to indict officer Wilson is now suing prosecutor Robert McCulloch on the grounds that he misrepresented the evidence to sway the jury’s decision in favor of Wilson.
The American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU, filed the lawsuit today on behalf of the juror, who is anonymous, requesting that the court lift the lifetime gag order preventing jurors to discuss the case publicly. The grand jury of 12 individuals, 9 white and 3 black, saw evidence in several cases dating back to May 2014, but all of their focus was soon shifted to the Brown-Wilson case since the incident in August. The suit contends that McCulloch presented the evidence in this case much different than the previous ones.
Moreover, the plaintiff in the suit alleges that McCulloch muddled the process, presenting evidence that insinuated that Brown was the wrongdoer, and withheld evidence that proved otherwise. After the decision not to indict Wilson was sent down, the media was then given all of the information, which the juror contends that they were not privy to prior.
ACLU attorney Tony Rothert, says that the suit is not an attempt to allow all jurors in the state of Missouri to be able to speak on future cases, but in this unique case, his client should be permitted to speak publicly and would benefit the national debate on police tactics, brutality and race relations.
All of this comes on the heels of prosecutor Robert McCulloch admitting publicly that he knowingly allowed a witness he knew was lying testify to the grand jury.
