No Indictment of Officer in Missouri Death

Grand Jury Does Not Charge Darren Wilson in Ferguson Case

Legal experts say police officers typically have wide latitude to use deadly force when they feel their safety is threatened.

Or to put it another way, they have wide latitude to define when deadly force is necessary. Think South Park.

Mr. McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecutor, directed his staff to present “absolutely everything” to the grand jury, meaning that the jurors would see and hear more evidence than they would have normally.

OK, my immediate thought is that it sounds like the grand jury would be hearing testimony that they usually wouldn’t have heard because of its relevance or credibility. Not to say this happened but if someone did want to direct information away from something, I imagine burying it in an avalanche of other information might not be such a bad tactic.

In the event the jury does not indict Officer Wilson, Mr. McCulloch has said he plans to release audio recordings and transcripts of the grand jury proceedings.

(Dear New York Times, Please hire some copy editors and make sure you update/correct articles before you publish them, even online. Thank you, -The Public)

Absolutely only the play the prosecutor could make to ensure his conduct in this affair was protected from much critique was to release every little thing, before anyone asks.

A few ends will be served beyond the public’s thirst for information.

On the chance that some information contained somewhere in the grand jury proceedings leads to light being shone any malfeasance, on the part of any level of law enforcement, the prosecutor has separated himself from it by releasing the information so promptly. If there is anything, even remotely resembling say stereotypical thin blue line cover-ups to be found, his hands are clean. Nice butt-covering.

Less cynically, McCulloch repeatedly expressed his desire that people keep working on and discussing the issues involved in this tragedy and even made non-specific statements about laws being changed so things work better. That bit was nice but I wonder if he will be speaking about this a month from now.