Trouble for prosecutor in Ferguson, Missouri

One of the grand jurors has filed a lawsuit against St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, charging that: (1) In announcing the grand jury decision, he had mischaracterized their degree of agreement about there not being enough evidence for an indictment;  (2)  that, because of confidentiality rules, there is no way for any juror, who disagrees with his representation, to speak up about it;   (3)  that evidence in the Darren Wilson case was presented differently than in other cases, with the insinuation that the victim, not the officer, was the wrongdoer.   The juror is being assisted in the case by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a separate, and perhaps a more significant case legally, attorney Sherrilyn Hill and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund make a compelling case for misconduct on the part of MuCulloch and his staff.   This comes in the form of a request of the Missouri Circuit Court Judge who has jurisdiction over Ferguson to appoint a special prosecutor.

Missouri gives the judge the authority to do this in any case in which a citizen has not yet been indicted and where prosecutorial misconduct is being alleged.   It only requires one instance of misconduct;   the NAACP-LDF request cites three instances of misconduct (as summarized by Shaun King for Daily Kos):

1. How prosecutors violated Missouri law and professional ethics by calling a witness they've since admitted they knew did not actually witness the shooting and was not at the scene. They not only called her once, but twice, and encouraged her to bring physical evidence on her second visit.  This witness, Sandy McElroy, perjured herself over 100 times.

2. Prosecutors consistently made documented mistakes in the essential instructions they gave to the grand jurors, including a well documented instance giving the grand jurors instructions on the law, which had been declared unconstitutional decades ago.

3. Legal analysts and now an actual member of the grand jury [above] felt strongly that Bob McCulloch and his team acted as de facto defense attorneys for Darren Wilson and that it often appeared as if Mike Brown was on trial instead of Darren Wilson.

It should help the case for appointing a special prosecutor that many legal experts had called on the governor to appoint a special prosecutor from the beginning.

So this may not be over yet.
 
Ralph