The St. Louis County Prosecutor’s office is now investigating potential misconduct surrounding the grand jury that is currently investigating the shooting of Michael Brown. On August 9th, the unarmed 18-year-old was shot six times by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Since the shooting, Wilson has been on paid administrative leave and has not been charged with a crime. St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, instead of looking at the evidence himself and issuing any subsequent charges, decided to use a grand jury to decide Wilson’s fate. McCulloch has also not directed the grand jury towards any specific charges that should be levied. Instead, he’s allowing them to decide for themselves what charges (if any) Wilson should be indicted on.
On Wednesday morning, activist and Daily Kos writer Shaun King highlighted some tweets from a St. Louis resident who claimed that she knew one of the grand jury members and that her friend said that it looked like there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Wilson. Ed Magee, McCulloch’s spokesman, confirmed to the Washington Post that King’s twitter feed was the reason why the county was investigating the grand jury for misconduct.
Below are selected tweets from King detailing the suspected leak:
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I am working on something with several of you here on Twitter that is pretty huge. I wasn’t quite ready, but I think we have to release it.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
Early this morning, a volunteer that I’ve been working with found something VERY alarming on Twitter. It’s newsworthy. AMPLIFY this PLEASE.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
Early this morning, a longtime St. Louis resident posted that she had a friend on the Grand Jury for Darren Wilson…
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
She went on to post that her friend told her they doubted they’d charge Darren Wilson & hadn’t been given enough info to indict him yet.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
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
She has since deleted her entire account. Before she deleted it, we saw that she is indeed a St. Louis resident w/ years of tweets there.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
If true, her tweet not only reveals a leak in the Grand Jury, but gives us an ugly glimpse into how things have gone so far.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
This person who posted it on Twitter and her contact on the Grand Jury must be fully and completely investigated & removed if it’s true.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
Listen, I am not willing to simply accept that this was a fake post. This person freaked out when she saw we were on it. Deleted her account
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
When the St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch decided to give the grand jury MONTHS, he opened it WIDE OPEN for the likelihood of leaks
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 1, 2014
While it is quite possible the person who posted that info on Twitter was exaggerating or just plain lying, it absolutely needs to be investigated. The fact that she deleted her entire Twitter account makes one think that there might be some truth behind what she sent out. I agree with what King said — McCulloch opened the door for this to happen by not only sending this to the grand jury but by extending out the time for them to hear evidence and investigate this matter. It has been argued all along by people in Ferguson and beyond that McCulloch’s objectivity is an issue when it comes to law enforcement and that he is going to do anything possible to give him cover while also allowing Wilson to walk.
This investigation is only going to infuriate the people who are looking for justice more. There is already a huge amount of distrust when it comes to the local police departments and the prosecutor’s office. More and more, people feel that local government is doing its best to screw them over and ensure that justice will not be served. This is why the protests in Ferguson that have continued since Brown’s death are a true watershed moment in recent American history. The people there are letting the powers that be know that they aren’t going to take it anymore. Change needs to come. And it needs to come now.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
