St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA few years ago, I was a member of the St. Louis County Grand Jury\u2014the same body that is currently considering evidence in the Michael Brown shooting. According to news reports, the Grand Jury still operates the same way it did back then. Based on my experience in that grand jury room, I predict that Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, will not be indicted. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n
As St. Louis County grand jurors, our weekly routine began when we received the day\u2019s docket of cases. It was a multi-page document, on which were printed the case numbers, defendants\u2019 names, and\u2014this is the part that\u2019s most significant to my no-indictment prediction\u2014the charge that we were to consider, plus its legal classification [e.g., D Felony].<\/p>\n
Our weekly case dockets contained from about 30 to as many as 60 cases. Each case was introduced by a prosecutor, who brought in witnesses\u2014usually police officers\u2014to testify about the details of the crime. Most of the cases were \u201cslam-dunks.\u201d The evidence was overwhelming [thieves who left their wallets with IDs behind at the crime scene, muddy tire tracks leading directly from a home invasion to the burglar\u2019s house, shoplifters caught on security cameras, etc.] On our first day as grand jurors, County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch [who is leading the Darren Wilson investigation] joked that \u201cWe don\u2019t catch the smart ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
I cannot remember a single case, among the close to 1,000 that we looked at on our dockets, that did not list the charge for which the prosecuting attorney was seeking an indictment.<\/p>\n
Looking back, I can see how the formatting of the dockets and the presentation of the cases conditioned us\u2014both openly and in a subliminal way\u2014to vote for indictments, which we did, in, I\u2019d estimate, 95% of the cases. And I can imagine that a case without a charge listed on the docket would stand out.<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s see: All of the other cases are linked directly to a specific charge. This case doesn\u2019t include a charge. In fact, it\u2019s even more confusing than that: The prosecuting attorney is asking the grand jurors to decide IF there should be any charge at all, and WHAT that charge might be [a job for which grand jurors\u2014if they are like me\u2014are completely unqualified].<\/p>\n
Given this break in protocol and the confusion it must be creating, I think it\u2019s logical to infer, as a grand juror, that on this case, the prosecuting attorney is not really seeking an indictment. And since grand juries, as has been demonstrated many times, overwhelmingly follow the prosecutor\u2019s lead, I think we can see where this is going.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why, if I were a betting person\u2014and if Las Vegas bookies were perverse enough to offer odds in the Darren Wilson case\u2014my money would be on a no-indictment result.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[UPDATE: Local news, as you may have heard, is now reporting that the grand jury looking into the Darren Wilson case is now under investigation itself, because a member of the grand juror may have discussed the case outside of the jury room–as indicated by a “friend-of-a-friend” post on Twitter. That potential breach of protocol could tank the entire grand jury investigation and could should help deep-six any indictment, too.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few years ago, I was a member of the St. Louis County Grand Jury\u2014the same body that is currently considering evidence in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[572,1360,1],"tags":[2337,2533,942,2322,1330],"yoast_head":"\n
Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Occasional Planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Occasional-Planet-325800656245\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-02T16:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-11T19:42:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gloria Shur Bilchik\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Occas_Planet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Occas_Planet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gloria Shur Bilchik\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/\",\"name\":\"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-02T16:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-11T19:42:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/7257fb92fde9344f61be5ebfb8ddcbe8\"},\"description\":\"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1\",\"width\":600,\"height\":330},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/\",\"name\":\"Occasional Planet\",\"description\":\"Progressive Voices Speaking Out\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/7257fb92fde9344f61be5ebfb8ddcbe8\",\"name\":\"Gloria Shur Bilchik\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/283a0a7167cfd841ffdc523ad82ceb25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/283a0a7167cfd841ffdc523ad82ceb25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gloria Shur Bilchik\"},\"description\":\"Gloria Shur Bilchik is a freelance writer and community volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the editor of Occasional Planet. She views the preservation of democratic values and progressive programs as vital to making the US a humane, livable place for her children and grandchildren.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/author\/gloria-shur-bilchik\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted","description":"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted","og_description":"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014","og_url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/","og_site_name":"Occasional Planet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Occasional-Planet-325800656245\/","article_published_time":"2014-10-02T16:18:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-11T19:42:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":330,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1","type":"image\/gif"}],"author":"Gloria Shur Bilchik","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Occas_Planet","twitter_site":"@Occas_Planet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gloria Shur Bilchik","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/","url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/","name":"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1","datePublished":"2014-10-02T16:18:31+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-11T19:42:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/7257fb92fde9344f61be5ebfb8ddcbe8"},"description":"A former grand juror explains why changes in protocol in the Michael Brown case may lead to a no-indictment result in the case against officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown in Ferguson in August 2014","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1","width":600,"height":330},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2014\/10\/02\/ferguson-aftermath-why-i-think-darren-wilson-will-not-be-indicted\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ferguson aftermath: Why I think Darren Wilson will not be indicted"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/","name":"Occasional Planet","description":"Progressive Voices Speaking Out","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/7257fb92fde9344f61be5ebfb8ddcbe8","name":"Gloria Shur Bilchik","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ims.zdr.mybluehost.me\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/283a0a7167cfd841ffdc523ad82ceb25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/283a0a7167cfd841ffdc523ad82ceb25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gloria Shur Bilchik"},"description":"Gloria Shur Bilchik is a freelance writer and community volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the editor of Occasional Planet. She views the preservation of democratic values and progressive programs as vital to making the US a humane, livable place for her children and grandchildren.","url":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/author\/gloria-shur-bilchik\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif?fit=600%2C330&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30252"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30261,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30252\/revisions\/30261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/McCulloch-Bob-AP-600x330.gif\")
<\/a>