Michael Brown verdict already a foregone conclusion

[damnedifIknow]

"As most semi-alert Americans know, we're just days away from the grand jury's verdict in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Three months ago, the 18-year-old was shot six times by a police officer in his home town of Ferguson, Mo. As happens in cases like this, as soon as the story went public, lines were drawn firmly down the middle as liberals and conservatives prepped for another heated debate about race in America (with a "police brutality" kicker). While things have died down a little in Ferguson over the past several weeks, this week's verdict threatens to rip the wound open again."

*Both sides have already made up their mind that the officer will be acquitted and nothing will ultimately change. That's the most terrible part, that both sides have determined, whether they realize it or not, that Brown's case is just another in a long line of unavoidable mistakes. America has decided that this kind of violence is simply a part of life. Oh sure, when the verdict comes along, people will act outraged on one side and relieved on the other. The conservatives will batten down the hatches, cozy with their sidearms, and the liberals will throw a temper tantrum, proud that their chalk outlines have really changed minds. Then, in a few weeks, things will move on like before, and in another few months, another police officer will shoot another citizen and the whole thing will kick off again, because, in the United States, apparently, violence is simply how things get done."

http://www.examiner.com/article/michael-brown-verdict-already-a-foregone-conclusion

[simak]

1. Then why have grand juries? n/t

[hfojvt]

6. welcome to DU

I happen to be a huge fan of Clifford D. Simak.

As for grand juries, myself, I am not sure. The consensus seems to be that a grand jury pretty much does whatever the prosecutor wants it to do.

If that is the case, then really, why have them. Theoretically, they are a chance to decide democratically whether a person should be charged with a crime, rather than just having one DA make that decision.

[Oktober]

9. The DA is the first screen to determine if a prosecution...

... Should go forward.

Let's just go whole hog and go zero tolerance with them as well.

[jaysunb]

2. Verdict ??

Very sloppy journalism....verdicts are the result of trials. Indictments are what's handed up by grand juries. This use of language is very troubling for me, just like the release of autopsy results, declaring a state of emergency in advance, HLS positioning themselves and much more irregular behavior. And when ones takes into account what has happened to date that would justify all this--what, some yelling, marching, a couple fires--what is the motivation for all this hoopla and now deceit.

There's something very wrong about this whole thing.

[maced666]

3. I do wonder why Eric Holder slipped in and out so quick.

And has been so silent. Some are saying that he didn't see a case against the officer, but we don't KNOW.
He's silent.

[onehandle]

4. Racism and their pacifier, the gun, wins?

So small their manhood.

[Midnight Writer]

5. Hannity used "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" as his bumper music

for his segment on Ferguson, televised on FoxNews. When the camera panned around to him, he was giggling with a smirk that would make GW Bush envious.

The right wing is just itching for a chance to use their weapons to put Ferguson protesters in their "place".

Michael Brown's body was left for hours in the street to send a message. I fear Ferguson protesters will be used to send a similar message.

[morningfog]

7. There is no verdict or acquittal at this stage. There may or may not be indictment.

Or indictments.

I am still think it is quite possible there will be an indictment for second degree murder, or perhaps more likely voluntary manslaughter.

A voluntary manslaughter indictment would just confuse everyone. It wouldn't be murder, but it would mean charges and a trial (unless he pled). How would everyone react to voluntary manslaughter?

[hfojvt]

8. "violence is simply how things get done"

Gotta say, I do not get it. Whatever this writer is trying to say. Or I just strongly disagree.

It will not take a few months for a cop to shoot somebody. Those events happen multiple times a day in this country.

So does the crime of armed robbery, and the crime of rape, and the crime of aggravated assault, and the crime of homicide.

But for a cop to kill a dude who attacked him, and then didn't surrender (if that is what the grand jury concludes) that proves that "violence is simply how things get done"???? Yeah, it's too bad cops are not armed with dandylions and if they get attacked, will just rub their attacker's chins to see if they like butter. That would end the violence, I am sure.

To call this incident an "unavoidable mistake" seems ridiculous as well.

Who the heck sees it that way? Where is the "mistake"? And how was it unavoidable? Neither side sees it as either a mistake or as unavoidable. You don't punch somebody by mistake. If you shoot somebody in anger, that's not really a "mistake" in the same sense as people make the mistake of typing "their" when they mean "there" or "they're".

As far as "nothing will ultimately change". Well, things change all the time. We certainly are not in the same place as we were back in 1968 when MLK wrote "Why we can't wait".

If we want things to "change", then what changes are we pushing for? What are our demands? Besides the first one of the indictment and conviction of Darren Wilson? Would that fundamentally change anything?

[Egnever]

11. Awesome post!

[delrem]

10. I don't like the lazy, in fact mindless framing of the issue

as being "conservative vs liberal", opening the door for the trite bullshit that guys like the author excel at.
Justin Andress, Sr. Editor at Examiner.com, uses the occasion for self-serving, self-aggrandizing posturing, nothing more.