In an unprecedented move, a member of the grand jury that heard the case of now-former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, is suing for the right to speak out.
The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday on behalf of the unnamed juror, who wants a lifetime ban preventing jurors from discussing the case, lifted. The juror has a serious problem with comments made by prosecutor Robert McCulloch, saying the prosecutor mischaracterized jurors’ opinions on the case.
The plaintiff, identified as “Grand Juror Doe,” also said the case was ‘muddled,’ and that McCulloch focused more on the 18-year-old victim, Brown, than on the cop who shot him, Wilson.
The grand jury declined to indict Wilson and protests broke out nationwide after that decision was revealed in a press conference by McCulloch.
Meanwhile, a congressman is calling for a congressional hearing into shootings of black men by police, like what happened to Brown. On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Congressman Elijiah Cummings is afraid cops and the communities they protect are getting further apart. The Maryland Democrat believes the recent focus on cases like the shootings of Brown in Ferguson and Tamir Rice in Cleveland have raised tensions. Cummings called for toning down the rhetoric on both sides to realize police and community members want the same goals. Cummings serves the 7th Congressional District of Maryland, which includes Baltimore.
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