The Michael Brown Shooting Official Thread

[Umka36 781]

No, just a green card alien at the time.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., police officer whose fatal shooting of Michael Brown touched off more than a week of demonstrations, suffered severe facial injuries, including an orbital (eye socket) fracture, and was nearly beaten unconscious by Brown moments before firing his gun, a source close to the department’s top brass told FoxNews.com.

The Gateway Pundit can now confirm from two local St. Louis sources that police Officer Darren Wilson suffered facial fractures during his confrontation with deceased 18 year-old Michael Brown. Officer Wilson clearly feared for his life during the incident that led to the shooting death of Brown. This was after Michael Brown and his accomplice Dorian Johnson robbed a local Ferguson convenience store.

Local St. Louis sources said Wilson suffered an “orbital blowout fracture to the eye socket.” This comes from a source within the District Attorney’s office and confirmed by the St. Louis County Police.

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/19/was-the-cop-injured-during-his-altercation-with-michael-brown/

[Karee 4,191]

Link where he broke an eye socket.

Let me know what your grade is. We'll trade notes.

http://nypost.com/2014/08/19/cop-involved-in-ferguson-shooting-has-fractured-eye-socket-report/

[khwaidee1 196]

For some reason I have not seen this video played on the nightly news. And I'm not sure why the news continues to refer to him as a boy or teenager. I guess technically being eighteen you are still a teen but everything you do at that stage gets you treated like an adult including dying for your country.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/168698-eyewitness-recalls-important-detail-background-video-mins-ferguson-shooting/

Edited August 21, 2014 by khwaidee1

[Karee 4,191]

For some reason I have not seen this video played on the nightly news. And I'm not sure why the news continues to refer to him as a boy or teenager. I guess technically being eighteen you are still a teen but everything you do at that stage gets you treated like an adult including dying for your country.

Because they're doing everything they can to make it look like some innocent kid that was minding his own business walking down the street, and this cop rolled up and executed him just because he was black.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Karee

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

http://nypost.com/2014/08/19/cop-involved-in-ferguson-shooting-has-fractured-eye-socket-report/

I've seen reports of this dude in the street dead. Not one ambulance, no medics for a fractured eye socket. That's why I find it weird. Not only that, he put 6 bullets in him. You must have one hell of an aim.

[khwaidee1 196]

And 5 bullets apparently in the front of the right arm that probably broke the eye socket earlier.

[khwaidee1 196]

Because they're doing everything they can to make it look like some innocent kid that was minding his own business walking down the street, and this cop rolled up and executed him just because he was black.

Well I'm sure it could happen and may happen, the facts certainly marshal against it. What if Brown, attacked him, Brown taunted him after beating him and then rushed him? Will the civic leaders apologize for the rush to judgment? What will become of the witnesses who saw the "execution"? Will they be persecuted? What will become of the "Hands up, don't shoot" crowd? Truth may be stranger than fiction but, fiction sells a helluva lot better.

[Karee 4,191]

Well I'm sure it could happen and may happen, the facts certainly marshal against it. What if Brown, attacked him, Brown taunted him after beating him and then rushed him? Will the civic leaders apologize for the rush to judgment? What will become of the witnesses who saw the "execution"? Will they be persecuted? What will become of the "Hands up, don't shoot" crowd? Truth may be stranger than fiction but, fiction sells a helluva lot better.

That's funny. They'll move on to the next alleged injustice and play that for everything it's worth. The race hustler's work is never done. Meanwhile in Chicago black on black killings are out of control.

[khwaidee1 196]

That's funny. They'll move on to the next alleged injustice and play that for everything it's worth. The race hustler's work is never done. Meanwhile in Chicago black on black killings are out of control.

I was talking about that with a friend today, I can't recall Jesse or Al going to Chicago lately. Unless it for lunch with Rahm.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Ray Kemp · Top Commenter · St. Charles, Missouri

The problem of the body on the ground longer than normal was the unrest of the scene by the residents delayed the investigative process. The scene remained quite volatile for some time. Yes, I'm sure it added to the emotions of the residents, but for many of the residents, they simply did not understand that this shooting like any shooting takes time to investigate.

http://www.firerescue1.com/firefighter-safety/videos/1966461-ems-chief-how-first-responders-handled-the-ferguson-shooting/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=exclusive3&nlid=1965449

Video of 1st responder

[Karee 4,191]

I was talking about that with a friend today, I can't recall Jesse or Al going to Chicago lately. Unless it for lunch with Rahm.

I think Jesse lives there. Not sure though.

[Pooky 3,844]

I've seen reports of this dude in the street dead. Not one ambulance, no medics for a fractured eye socket. That's why I find it weird. Not only that, he put 6 bullets in him. You must have one hell of an aim.

And none of them hit center mass, where LEOs are trained to aim for.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

CNN is now reporting Wilson's injuries aren't as severe as once claimed. Let's see how this plays out. I remember when GZ's photos were plastered all over the news and net.

[lostinblue 1,989]

What would federal prosecutors have to prove in the Michael Brown shooting?

By Paul Cassell August 19

On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder will go to Ferguson, Mo. to assess the progress being made in the FBI’s investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown. With that visit in mind, it may be useful to consider what federal prosecutors would have to prove to obtain a federal civil rights conviction. It wouldn’t be easy.

The elements required to prove a federal criminal civil rights violation are quite demanding. Here are jury instructions describing the elements of a federal civil right offense, taken from the leading federal jury instruction form book:

First: That the defendant deprived the victim of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States by committing one or more of the acts charged in the indictment;

Second: That the defendant acted willfully, that is, that the defendant committed such act or acts with a bad purpose or evil motive, intending to deprive the victim of that right; and

Third: That the defendant acted under color of law.

Fourth: That died as a result of defendant’s conduct.

The indictment charges that the defendant deprived the victim of the right to be free from unlawful deadly force by law enforcement officers when lawfully being seized [arrested], in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. You are instructed that this right is one secured by the Constitution of the United States. A defendant’s use of deadly force against a fleeing felony suspect is constitutional only if the officer had probable cause to believe that the suspect posed a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.

2 Fed. Jury Prac. & Instr. § 29:03 (6th ed.).

The tricky thing in a federal civil rights prosecution is proving mens rea — that is, the defendant’s state of mind. As the jury instructions above make clear, federal prosecutors would have to establish that the police officer acted “willfully” — i.e., with a “bad purpose or evil motive.” And because mens rea is an element of the offense, prosecutors would have to prove that state of mind beyond a reasonable doubt.

In some of the discussions of the case that I have seen, this critical point has been overlooked. Some commentators have assumed that the officer could be charged federally if he was negligent or reckless in assessing the need to use deadly force. For a federal civil rights prosecution, that is untrue. A federal civil rights prosecution in the Brown shooting will only be successful if the defendant acted with specific intent to deprive Brown of his rights.

Of course, we do not yet know all the facts surrounding the shooting. According to some media reports, there is evidence (including a recent pathology report) that suggested Brown had his hands up at the time of the shooting. If he was clearly in the act of surrendering, deadly force would be improper and, indeed, so improper that a federal civil rights prosecution would be possible. But according to other reports, Brown doubled back towards the officer, apparently charging him at the time of the shooting. If this is what really happened (or if there is a reasonable doubt about whether this is what happened), the case is not really appropriate for a federal civil rights prosecution. Instead, the issue would be one to handled under state law, which allows a more fine-grained assessment of whether the officer’s assessment of the need to use deadly force was reckless, negligent, a reasonable mistake, or entirely correct.

Put another way, a federal civil rights prosecution would be a high stakes, all-or-nothing affair. If prosecutors could show (beyond a reasonable doubt) a deliberate violation of Brown’s rights, then they could secure a conviction. But if the prosecutors only persuaded the jury that the officer was criminally reckless or negligent, the case would end in an acquittal — a result that might well seem unfair to Ferguson residents who would wonder, quite plausibly, why an officer who had been proven to act improperly was allowed to walk.

In light of all this, if the evidence suggests a crime (a big “if” yet to be determined), then the prosecution may well be one better handled under the state criminal justice system, where the appropriate finder of fact will have the full range of possible findings to make: murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, or no crime at all.

Update: Robert Driscoll at National Review Online has a thoughtful post making points similar to mine about the unlikelihood of a federal civil rights prosecution in the Brown shooting.

Paul G. Cassell teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and crime victims' rights at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/19/what-would-federal-prosecutors-have-to-prove-in-the-michael-brown-shooting/