The reaction stemming from Monday evening’s announcement that there would be no indictment of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson fatally shooting unarmed teenager Michael Brown, has continued to spark various questions as it pertains to law enforcement practices in America.
And while Americans are divided over the initial shooting, some law officials are surprised by the grand juror’s final decision. Today during an interview on HuffPost Live, criminal defense attorney, Page Pate shared his thoughts on why St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch had “no interest” in indicting Wilson.
“I wasn’t at all surprised by the grand jury’s decision. I think it was clear early on that this prosecutor had no interest in indicting this officer,” Pate admitted. “And so his way to get around that political was to present all the evidence to a grand jury, let them sort through it. Almost like a defense lawyer would. And I don’t necessarily criticize him for that. He has the right to do it. But it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t indict the officer.”
“Especially once they heard from that officer and the other evidence, forensic evidence, and other things they had matched up with his story versus the inconsistent stories that we heard from some of the eyewitnesses.”
“Now it’s common in my experience, and I’ve sat with law enforcement officers who have appeared in front of state grand jurors,” he continued. “Grand jurors like them. And unless it’s clear that the force was not justified and they were out there to do something bad that day, it’s rare for a state grand juror to indict an officer in excessive force case. Not so much on a federal level, but that’s a different question.”
Check out more of attorney Page Pate’s HuffPost Live segment in the clip above.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.