Gov. Nixon Won't Replace Controversial Prosecutor re: Michael Brown Case

[moostraks]

Some have expressed concern that Bob McCulloch, a 23-year veteran of the position of St. Louis County prosecutor, may be too biased to fairly present the evidence of Michael Brown’s killing to a grand jury. As noted by the New Republic, police officers are always part of the prosecution team by virtue of their duty to gather the evidence and testify as witnesses for the state...

In addition, Bob McCulloch’s father was killed while in the line of duty as a police officer, and McCulloch opposed Nixon’s decision to replace the St. Louis police department patrolling Ferguson with the Missouri Highway Patrol.

“It’s shameful what he did today, he had no legal authority to do that,” McCulloch told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch following Nixon’s decision. “To denigrate the men and women of the county police department is shameful.”

http://www.newsweek.com/gov-jay-nixo...wn-case-265756

Separate case same area:

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him...

The contradictions between the complaint and the depositions apparently are what prompted the prosecutor to drop the “property damage” allegation. The prosecutor also dropped a felony charge of assault on an officer that had been lodged more than a year after the incident and shortly after Davis filed his civil suit.

Davis suggested in his testimony that if the police really thought he had assaulted an officer he would have been charged back when he was jailed.

“They would have filed those charges right then and there, because that’s a major felony,” he noted.

Indisputable evidence of what transpired in the cell might have been provided by a surveillance camera, but it turned out that the VHS video was recorded at 32 times normal speed...

“On September 20th, 2009, was there any way to identify any officers that were subject of one or more citizens’ complaints?” he asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Moonier said...

But however lax the department’s system and however contradictory the officers’ testimony, a federal magistrate ruled that the apparent perjury about the “property damage” charges was too minor to constitute a violation of due process and that Davis’ injuries were de minimis—too minor to warrant a finding of excessive force. Never mind that a CAT scan taken after the incident confirmed that he had suffered a concussion...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...loody-lie.html

What's the saying again AF? Not intentionally malevolent is it??? Being a twenty-three year veteran he has also been part of this system during both of these cases. There will be another, female and black, prosecutor and I wonder who will be lead on this case?

[AuH20]

Both the governor and/or the federales can appoint their own special prosecutor, even after the county prosecutor acts.

[moostraks]

Both the governor and/or the federales can appoint their own special prosecutor, even after the county prosecutor acts.

Article link posted above if you would have read it rather than knee jerk:

"There is a well-established process by which a prosecutor can recuse themselves from a pending investigation, and a special prosecutor be appointed. Departing from this established process could unnecessarily inject legal uncertainty into this matter and potentially jeopardize the prosecution,” Nixon said.

The guy should step down. Transparency and a moral code would dictate that in a situation as heated as this a person of conscience would not want the slightest appearance of bias to cloud a fair trial for both sides and prevent further blowback...

[tod evans]

The very last thing a prosecutor is looking for is a "fair trial"...

There's a reason I hold them in higher contempt than the kops they protect and encourage...

[moostraks]

The very last thing a prosecutor is looking for is a "fair trial"...

There's a reason I hold them in higher contempt than the kops they protect and encourage...

Agreed, and this guy should have stepped down as soon as it was offered due to his long standing position in the community.

[tod evans]

Agreed, and this guy should have stepped down as soon as it was offered due to his long standing position in the community.

This guy needs to be stepped down...

[mczerone]

It should be standard practice in the legal system to grant prosecutorial jurisdiction to neighboring counties for ALL local government indictments.

Whether the behavior of police or the graft of some city-councilman, the local prosecutor has too many reasons to not diligently pursue the charges. Give that role to a neighboring county's prosecutor, though, and they have a much easier time separating friendships and politics from their decisions and enthusiasm.

If you're a local govt employee, there's not much argument that travelling one county over to face charges is that unfair as to violate due process rules.