Turned the Grand jury process into an internal investigation. -- Likewise, Wilsons claim that Brown was charging at him when the officer fired the fatal shots into the top of Browns bowed head was critical to the reasonableness of Wilsons use of deadly force. When McCulloch announced the grand jurys decision, he characterized the witnesses who testified that Brown was charging the officer as believable, but dismissed the testimony of witnesses who said Brown was surrendering. McCulloch sounded like a defense attorney, not a prosecutor charged with representing the people, including Brown. Wilson fired 12 shots at Brown, six of which struck the teenager. There was a great deal of contradiction among the witnesses, including whether Browns hands were up or down when Wilson shot at him. That is precisely why there should have been an indictment and a jury trial. Jurors would hear all of the evidence, subjected to adversarial testing by cross-examination. They would assess the credibility of the witnesses, and determine whether Wilson had committed any crime(s) beyond a reasonable doubt. After reviewing the transcripts and evidence in the Wilson case, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi noted: Dorian Johnson, the key witness who was standing next to Brown during the encounter, provided strong testimony that called into question Wilsons claim that he was defending his life against a deranged aggressor. Johnson testified that Wilson, enraged that the young men did not obey his order to get on the sidewalk, threw his patrol car into reverse. While Wilson claimed Brown prevented him from opening his door, Johnson testified that the officer smacked them with the door after nearly hitting the pair. Johnson described the ensuing struggle as Wilson attempting to pull Brown through the car window by his neck and shirt, and Brown pulling away. Johnson never saw Brown reach for Wilsons gun or punch the officer. Johnson testified that he watched a wounded Brown partially raise his hands and say, I dont have a gun before being fatally shot. Adachi also wrote, Prosecutors never asked Wilson why he did not attempt to drive away while Brown was allegedly reaching through his vehicle window or to reconcile the contradiction between his claim that Brown punched the left side of his face and the documented injuries which appear on his right side.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:24:32 +0000
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