[h=1]What Could Happen If There's No Indictment Or Conviction In Michael Brown's Death[/h]
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post...indictment-or-conviction-michael-browns-death
This is a great piece. Someone with clarity and good judgment needs to sit down in a quiet room with the Brown family and go through this with them thoroughly. In the business world, it is referred to as "managing expectations." In other words, I feel that many of those who are advising the Browns are giving them unreasonable expectations that they will prevail if they simply get enough people on their side, make enough noise, get enough people to feel sorry for them, etc... That is simply not the case.
It is unreasonable to expect OW to be arrested or fired because they are blocking traffic or threatening civil disobedience. It is unreasonable to expect that the GJ is going to indict OW because of the protests. It is unreasonable to expect that in the end, they will be sitting in a death chamber watching OW being executed for the first degree murder of MB. Someone needs to calmly explain to them that if they truly want MB's death to have some meaning, there are many other reasonable ways to reach some satisfaction, but they need to have their expectations lowered to a reasonable standard.
1.) They need to accept that the process is moving forward and that a GJ will decide the fate of whether or not OW will even be charged.
2.) IF OW is charged with any crime at all, he will be given his due process like every other citizen and the state will need to prove the charges against OW beyond a reasonable doubt
3.) It is highly unlikely that even IF OW is charged with ANY crimes, it will more than likely be something very minor, i.e. abuse of power, or perhaps an involuntary manslaughter at best
4.) They need to understand that the GENERAL PUBLIC has an interest in siding with law enforcement. Most people, while perhaps in agreement that there are certainly cases of police brutality, etc...believe that the police protect us on a daily basis, and risk their lives for their communities.
5.) They also must be made aware that any jury will see that MB has at least SOME level of fault in the incident. In order for it to be a clear cut case of police brutality, MB would have needed to be exactly what they said in their first go-round - an innocent, unarmed kid walking down the street minding his own business. Juries WILL take the strong armed robbery, the fact that he had stolen goods, the fact he was walking down the street, the fact that he didn't listen to the officers command to get out of the street. They will also take into account what injuries OW had and of course, any evidence, such as fingerprints, DNA, etc...of MB on that gun and on OW's person. There is MUCH more here than just reasonable doubt.
6.) A federal prosecution is going to be highly unlikely, particularly, if they are looking at the same evidence as shown to the GJ. They are parallel investigations and they both will have the same set of facts in front of them. Eric Holder may want to help, but in the end, if they don't feel they can win the case, they will not pursue it.
7.) A civil case would be their best bet for any recompense, but that too would be difficult. While the burden is more even, they would have more evidence than the defense would have to show MB's civil rights were violated. No easy task to do. I would put the odds at winning the case very low, but they may be able to get some kind of settlement if the police or OW decide to just make it go away.
8.) Proving MB's race has anything to do with this is going to be a huge leap. From what I gather at this moment, no one has said OW called either MB or DJ any racial names. And even being able to prove racial bias of the police department as a whole won't help, because it would not matter if every single other Ferguson police officer was proven to be a racist, this case is about OW. And from what we know, he has absolutely no history of being a racist (I feel we would have heard it by now) and has a perfectly clean record. There really isn't anything legal about "guilt by association." And if anything, OW's is actually favored by the concept of "innocent by association" because most people will tend to side with the police.
8.) Finally, if they REALLY want to make a difference, they can use this experience to help further the more general plight of the AA community. Lobby for changes to the police force. Raise awareness about voting. Help to educate youths about how to deal with the police. While they cannot ever get their son back, they can help to prevent this from happening to other young people out there, and not by blame, as much as by education.
I hope someone can reach them. Right now, it is doubtful. They have surrounded themselves with race baiters who are truly using them for their own agendas. They are being set up to fail and being set up for major disappointment. I really hope that someone with a conscience can get through to them to help guide them through what is going to be a very difficult time.
