The St. Louis County prosecutor’s office is investigating an accusation of misconduct on the grand jury that is hearing the case against the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Ed Magee, the spokesman for county prosecutor Robert McCulloch, said they received the information from a “Twitter user” Wednesday morning.
“We are looking into the matter,” he said.
An account of possible jury misconduct surfaced Wednesday morning on Twitter, when several users sent messages about one juror who may have discussed evidence in the case with a friend.
In one of those messages, a person tweeted that they are friends with a member of the jury who doesn’t believe there is enough evidence to warrant an arrest of the officer, Darren Wilson.
The same person who tweeted about being friends with a member of the jury has also tweeted messages of support for Wilson.
Magee confirmed that the Twitter user and feed came from an activist, Shaun King.
Within seconds of posting this, her friends told her to delete it and she did. It was screenshotted first. pic.twitter.com/b6kTf9p40h
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/519533301422235648
Y’all got that? Claire McCaskill says Bob McCulloch is one of the most respected prosecutors… as he continuously oppresses black people.
https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/status/519524217180930048
As Michael Brown’s grieved parents call for a special prosecutor in the case of their murderered son, Claire McCaskill dismisses their concerns.
Federal judge bars police from forcing Ferguson protesters to ‘keep moving’
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_4450191b-2430-5da7-ba40-daa55b735f4d.html#.VDMWdNxZop0.twitter
ST. LOUIS • Police may not force peaceful, law-abiding protesters to keep moving because doing so violates their constitutional rights, a federal judge in St. Louis said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry issued a preliminary injunction Monday ordering police to stop using a crowd-control tactic designed to enforce curfew during the most volatile nights of the Ferguson protests.
The ACLU last month asked the judge to put a stop to the practice of forcing protesters to “keep moving” and not stand on sidewalks, a rule police began using Aug. 18 along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer.
The injunction “is a huge win for peaceful protesters and those who believe in the rule of law,” Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU, said in a news release.
Perry’s injunction said the practice police adopted of forcing peaceful protesters to keep moving, which some activists called the “five-second rule,” violates citizens’ constitutional right of free speech. Perry also said the policy violated due process because “its enforcement was entirely arbitrary and left to the unfettered discretion of the officers on the street,” making police officers both lawmakers and enforcers.
“Citizens who wish to gather in the wake of Michael Brown’s tragic death have a constitutional right to do so, but they do not have the right to endanger lives of police officers or other citizens,” Perry wrote. “The police must be able to perform their jobs, and nothing in this order restricts their ability to do that.”
Just posted this on open thread too. This wasn’t rocket science. Of course the citizens of Ferguson FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS were VIOLATED!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/519171484724371456
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/519170065984286721
https://twitter.com/deray/status/519131682029699072
Demonstrators interrupt STL symphony singing a ‘Requiem for Mike Brown’
https://twitter.com/VirvusJ/status/517680689290825728
https://twitter.com/AmericaInFocus/status/517578654453219330
Here’s a First Look at the Ferguson Police Department’s Internal Code of Conduct
https://news.vice.com/article/heres-a-first-look-at-the-ferguson-police-departments-internal-code-of-conduct?utm_source=vicenewstwitter
The Ferguson Police Department’s Code of Conduct covers a lot: the training of new officers, the “rights of victims and witnesses,” discipline, racial bias, the use of force, the type of weapons issued to all officers — even name tags.
“The name tag will be worn on both the uniform shirt and jacket,” states the department’s uniform and equipment policy, recently obtained by VICE News along with hundreds of other department guidelines in response to an open records request. “The name tag shall consist of the officer’s first initial and his last name.”
The guidelines also state that police officers must provide their names, rank, and other identifying information to anyone who asks for it. But officers from the Ferguson Police Department — and other police departments — repeatedly failed to display identification or provide identifying information during the protests that followed the August 9 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The lack of transparency even prompted the Department of Justice to reprimand Ferguson police in a letter addressed to Chief Thomas Jackson.
The 776 pages of “general orders” signed by Jackson and obtained by VICE News (pdf below) lays out department procedures and instructs officers how to perform their jobs. It would appear that Ferguson police do not always follow those procedures and instructions.
The Ferguson PD, especially Tom Jackson NEEDS TO GO! PERIOD
When is this FErguson nightmare going to end?
When Chief Tom Jackson, Prosecutor Bob McColloch, Mayor Jay Knowles, and governor Jay Nixon are all stripped of their leadership positions, and DARREN WILSON IS ARRESTED FOR MURDERING Michael Brown Je.
Twitter user @TheSusanNichols tweeted that a friend of hers on the grand jury in the Mike Brown/Darren Wilson case discussed the case with her.
http://unite4humanity.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/grand-juror-misconduct-in-mike-brown-case/
The Washington Post did not include these “gems” from Ms. Nichols’ timeline
of course, it is suspect. the whole thing has smelled from the beginning. nobody trusts this process. nobody who thinks does.
Ferguson Shooting Emerges in County Executive TV Ads
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/09/26/video-ferguson-shooting-emerges-in-county-executive-tv-ads/
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) – The two candidates for St. Louis County executive are confronting the fatal Ferguson police shooting in new campaign ads.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that County Councilman Steve Stenger released a TV ad Thursday that urges county residents to “build trust in each other.”
Ferguson protesters have criticized the Democrat for his ties to county prosecutor Robert McCulloch as a grand jury considers possible criminal charges in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
McCulloch was a prominent Stenger supporter in the councilman’s Democratic primary win over current County Executive Charlie Dooley, who is black.
Republican state Rep. Rick Stream, Stenger’s challenger, released a TV ad on Tuesday that describes “wrong choices by politicians (which) have our county portrayed nationally as unsafe, divided and as a bad place to live.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy2848nEgMU
*********************
Steve Stenger, there will be no peace and no trust can be built, until Darren Wilson is indicted for the murder of Michael Brown.
I am shocked, I tell you, shocked to find that a member of the Grand Jury might be compromising the integrity of the process. Whocoodaknown? (snark)
Complete, REALLY? When is Darren Wilson going to be arrested?