Brown family condemns ‘broken system’

The family of a slain Missouri teenager on Tuesday hammered state officials for failing to indict the police officer involved in the shooting.

In an animated press conference in a St. Louis suburb, the attorneys representing the family of Michael Brown accused St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch of protecting the officer at the expense of justice for the slain teen.

{mosads}“Let’s be very honest about this process: We have the local prosecutor who has a symbiotic relationship with the local police and … who sit[s] in judgment whether to indict the police when they brutalize or kill a young person from our community,” said Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing the Brown family. 

“The prosecutor is supposed to prosecute, not be the defense attorney for the person we’re sitting in judgment of.”

The remarks came less than one day after McCulloch announced a grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in the shooting death of Brown, an 18-year-old black man, after a brief confrontation on a Ferguson, Mo., street on Aug. 9. 

The death of the unarmed teenager stirred violent protests in Ferguson, drew spirited outcries from a number of Democrats on Capitol Hill – particularly members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – and launched a national debate about racial profiling and the use of excessive force by law enforcers.

McCulloch said there was simply insufficient evidence to charge Wilson with a crime.

“The duty of the grand jury is to separate fact and fiction,” he said Monday night. “No probable cause exists to file any charges against Darren Wilson.”

But that explanation didn’t fly with civil rights activists and a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who, wary of McCulloch’s ties to local law enforcers, had urged Gov. Jay Dixon (D) to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the tragic incident. 

“I’ve never seen a prosecutor hold a press conference to discredit the victim,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference.

CBC leaders wasted no time condemning the verdict. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said he was “shocked” and “outraged” by the decision. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said he is “deeply disturbed” by the news.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said she’s “beyond disappointed” by the verdict. And CBC Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) called the outcome a “miscarriage of justice” and a “setback for race relations in America.”

“It is a slap in the face to Americans nationwide who continue to hope and believe that justice will prevail,” she said in a statement. “This decision seems to underscore an unwritten rule that black lives hold no value; that you may kill black men in this country without consequences or repercussions.”

President Obama responded to McCulloch’s announcement with a late-night press appearance Monday at the White House, where he highlighted “enormous progress in race relations” in recent decades, but emphasized there’s still a long way to go.

“There are still problems,” he said, “and communities of color aren’t just making these problems up.”

Yet even as he spoke, violence was erupting on the streets of Ferguson, where protestors looted shops, burned buildings and flipped police cars. Scores of people were arrested, and the city on Tuesday is bracing for the possibility of another night of violence.

Brown’s father, Michael Brown, Sr., has joined lawmakers and civil rights leaders in urging calm in the wake of the grand jury’s decision. He appeared with his lawyers at Tuesday’s press conference but did not speak.

Anthony Gray, another lawyer for the Browns, was careful to aim his criticism at McCulloch, rather than the grand jury. He said the decision was “a direct reflection of the sentiments of those that presented the evidence.”

“We always said from the very beginning that the decision of this grand jury was going to be a direct reflection of the presentation of evidence by the prosecutor’s office,” Gray said. “If they present evidence to indict, there would have been an indictment. If they don’t present the evidence in a manner to secure the indictment, then there won’t be an indictment.”

The grand jury’s decision will likely not be the final chapter of the tragedy. The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into possible civil rights violations surrounding the case, and the Brown family may still launch a civil suit.

Those representing the Brown family said Tuesday that they’ll also be fighting for an overhaul of the criminal justice system.

The tragedy, Sharpton said, “has lit a new energy for police accountability.”

“We may have lost round one,” he said, “but the fight is not over.”

This story was updated at 2:21 p.m.