Quote of the Day

"The lawsuit claims that evidence was presented to the grand jury in a manner markedly different than in previous cases heard by the same grand jury, with the 'insinuation' that Brown was the 'wrongdoer' rather than Wilson."—From a Reuters article on the lawsuit brought by Grand Juror Doe against St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch, who the juror alleges misrepresented the case against Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown.

The suit argues that state laws prohibiting the grand juror from talking about the case are unconstitutional. Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Missouri, said the Brown case is an important public policy issue and the grand juror should be allowed to speak about the proceedings.

After the Nov. 24 announcement by McCulloch that the grand jury decided not to indict Wilson, and the release by McCulloch of evidence presented, some critics accused the prosecutor of unfairly skewing the process in favor of the police officer.

A spokesman said McCulloch had no comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that evidence was presented to the grand jury in a manner markedly different than in previous cases heard by the same grand jury, with the "insinuation" that Brown was the "wrongdoer" rather than Wilson.

It also claims the prosecutor's office presented applicable laws to grand jurors "in a muddled and untimely manner" unlike presentations in other cases.

The grand juror also contends that McCulloch's public statements about the decision not to indict were not "entirely accurate," including the "implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges," the lawsuit stated.

Two things: 1. McCulloch should be out of a job. Period. 2. There is no double jeopardy attached to a failure to indict. Conceivably, another prosecutor could bring the case to another grand jury, and Wilson could still be indicted for the crime. That is not likely, but it is possible. He was not acquitted; he was simply not charged.