Reports: Grand jury reaches decision on Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson, announcement planned

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Jason Sickles, Yahoo


http://i.imgur.com/wzpVVzW.jpg

CLAYTON, Mo. — A St. Louis County grand jury has finally reached a decision on whether to charge Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown Jr., several media outlets reported Monday.

The panel’s ruling is expected to be revealed during a press conference at the courthouse in Clayton later today.

Anxiety over the decision has kept the St. Louis region on edge, as the public waits to see whether the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer will result in an indictment.

The grand jury convened Aug. 20 to hear evidence and testimony. The 12-member group was asked to decide if there was probable cause to charge Wilson with a crime and what that charge should be. Options range from second-degree involuntary manslaughter to second-degree murder. Wilson, 28, could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge.

But the panel may find that probable cause does not exist and dismiss the state’s case, without charging Wilson.

Many, including Wilson, have recently expressed that the grand jury will not hand down an indictment. On Thursday, Jeff Roorda, representative with the St. Louis Police Officers' Association, described Wilson as being under a lot of pressure and stress but confident in the outcome of the grand jury investigation.

“It's fair to say that neither he nor his defense team expect an indictment,” Roorda told the AP, offering his impression of the situation based his meeting with Wilson.

The Aug. 9 shooting led to weeks of protests and saw citizens and heavily armed police clash. Stores in Ferguson were looted and property was destroyed. Hundreds were arrested.

Wilson has reportedly told investigators that he feared for his life and felt justified in fatally shooting the 18-year-old. He said Brown assaulted him inside his patrol SUV and tried to take his gun. The teen’s family and some witnesses say that Wilson was the aggressor and ultimately killed Brown as he raised his hands in surrender.

Activists responded to reports of the decision by reminding their followers that marches will be held in Ferguson, Clayton and St. Louis' historic Shaw neighborhood.


not the time to panic y'all. we've been planning. we are prepared either way. either way.
— ShordeeDooWhop (@Nettaaaaaaaa) November 24, 2014

Officials have been planning for months for a possible backlash after the grand jury announces its decision. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon activated the state’s National Guard and declared a state of emergency. The governor’s order directs police to “to protect civil rights and ensure public safety in the City of Ferguson and the St. Louis region.”

Michael Brown, Sr., the teen's father, issued a plea for peace late Thursday.

“No matter what the grand jury decides, I do not want my son’s death to be in vain — I want it to lead to positive change,” a very somber Brown says in a public service announcement. “I thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and police intimidation, but hurting others or destroying property is not the answer.”

Activists from around the country have been arriving in the area for weeks to help plan demonstrations. Some groups aim to keep the protests peaceful and have asked police to follow proposed “rules of engagement.” Other organizations are issuing protective equipment and have set up “safe spaces” for protesters.

Brown graduated from high school in May and was planning to start trade school on Aug. 11, two days after he was shot. He was buried Aug. 25 in St. Louis County.

Wilson, an officer in Ferguson for three years, has been on paid leave and has not been seen in public since the shooting. Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson recently told Yahoo News that Wilson would “immediately” return to active duty if he was not indicted but was likely to be terminated if he was charged with a felony.

(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.)

[perrhaps]

If they indict the officer, I'm going to throw a nerf ball at my picture window!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I think they are delaying the announcement because they aren't going to indict the officer. They are getting prepared for the riots that will be happening as soon as they announce they won't be indicting him....

[perrhaps]

I think they are delaying the announcement because they aren't going to indict the officer. They are getting prepared for the riots that will be happening as soon as they announce they won't be indicting him....

Then announce it at 9:00 tomorrow morning, or about three hours before the rioters usually get up.

[Hal-9000]

Then announce it at 9:00 tomorrow morning, or about three hours before the rioters usually get up.


you're alive!!!!!! :dance:


thought you may have been buried in that massive dump of white rain the eastern states got

[FBD]

I'm sure other videos, like the one out there of officer wilson busting balls on a guy's property for a "junk car" he was working on - the guy filmed him doing it, and wilson manhandled him and arrested him for filming cops - wont be seen by many.

So like I've said, it almost seems as if this incident was selected for its "non cop's fault"-ness to it as a "flashpoint" much like OWS and tea party things were corralled and rerouted to some conclusion more favorable to those that have an interest in making sure OWS and TP did not see their goals realized.

No different than the attempt to start a race war with the trayvon disasterbacle.

Say what you want about this situation, but Officer Wilson is a fuggin nazi thug cop that is undeserving of a badge.

[FBD]

and the government doesnt want people to know exactly how far they are going to prepare for this, hence the reason that guy who took the picture of the 70+ homeland security vehicles was promptly fired after his bosses received a call from da gubbermint

[Muddy]

:nuke:

[FBD]

The contracts signed by each of the three participating departments specify the agreements of each department to provide the personnel as listed above and the annual dollar amount to be contributed by each department towards operating expenses. The contracts state the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are to contribute $150,000 annually and due to a lower call volume and usage of the helicopter the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department is to contribute $100,000 annually.

All of the money contributed by each department is money that is collected from asset forfeiture. Asset forfeiture is a term used to describe the confiscation of assets which are either the proceeds of crime or the instrumentalities of crime. No funding of the Metro Air Support Unit comes from any of the police departments actual budgets.




“Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of 2,635,400,” according to the ArchCity Defenders report. And in 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court issued 24,532 arrest warrants and 12,018 cases, “or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks

[FBD]

http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/08/ferguson-store-owner-says-he-doesnt-believe-thats-mike-brown-on-surveillance-video/#

Ferguson Store Owner Says He Doesn’t Believe That’s Mike Brown On Surveillance Video


The convenience store surveillance tapes that the Ferguson police released supposedly shows Michael Brown “robbing” a the local market shortly before being shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson. The Ferguson police have characterized this as a “robbery” in spite of the fact that it was carried out without any brandishing of a weapon. This was really more a case of petty theft shoplifting than anything else. But in an interesting turn of events, this Friday the owners of the store announced that they never said that they believed Michael Brown was even the individual who stole the item from their store.

While the owners of the market are speaking out through an attorney about the surveillance video, the mainstream media have decided to virtually ignore everything they said. Instead, the corporate media outlets have remained content to pretend that this video definitively identifies Michael Brown as the strong arm shoplifter.


The owners claim that this is a claim the police have come up with on their own. On the other hand though, Dorian Johnson, a witness to the shooting of Michael Brown, has reportedly confessed to being with Brown in the convenient store. But this has yet to be corroborated by the store owner, employees or eye witnesses. A number of questions remain as we are not hearing this from Johnson himself, and we already see just how deceptively the Ferguson police are willing to twist facts to suit their narrative.

The store owner, speaking through their attorney, even dispute the claim that they or an employee called 911. They explain that a customer inside the store made the call, and that is how police even got word of a crime, or a perpetrator who “fit the description” of Brown. The fact of the matter is that if there were an actual “robbery,” we can be certain that the store owner would have called the police.

In addition to clarifying that the store owners never said they believed, nor identified the suspect as being Michael Brown, they further claimed that the St. Louis County issued the warrants to confiscate the hard drive of surveillance video Friday. The warrants were issued based on the police claim that Brown “fit the description” of the person in the video. Remember, this was the person who the owners and employees of the store did not even see fit to call the police on due to the pettiness of the crime. The owner clarifies that neither the management of the shop, nor any employee has ever identified Mike Brown as the suspect recorded in the surveillance video.

The claim that the video recorded Brown “robbing” the convenience store is an assertion made by the police alone. The real question is why the mainstream, corporate media has been uncritically taking the word of the police on this matter, even over the eye witness testimonies of the store employees and owners?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtrl6_qeyW0

[FBD]

and didnt the kid that was with brown say they were just walking down the middle of the street, officer wilson pulls up, rolls down his window,, harasses them about being in the middle of the street, then hit brown with the door while he was opening it and brown pushed back, which was where the whole "but he was bruised up" came from.

the way I see it, the ferguson police have a long and storied record of intimidating the citizens there.