San Francisco, CA — After
reviewing the transcripts and evidence released Tuesday, San Francisco Public
Defender Jeff Adachi released the following statement today on the grand jury’s
decision against indicting police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death
of Michael Brown.
“As San Francisco Public
Defender, I am deeply disappointed with the grand jury’s failure to indict
Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. A
series of questionable, and in my opinion, biased legal and ethical decisions
in the investigation and prosecution of the case presented to the grand jury
led to this unjust result, most notably allowing a local prosecutor with strong
family connections to police supervise the investigation and presentation of
the evidence. This ethical failure resulted in the exceedingly rare step of the
prosecuting attorney refusing to recommend an indictment against the police
officer he was prosecuting. The police
investigation and inquiry itself were rife with problems:
Because it was a grand jury
inquiry and not a trial, Wilson took the stand in secrecy and without benefit
of a cross-examination. Prosecutors not only failed to probe his incredible
testimony but frequently appeared to be bolstering his claim of self-defense.
Transcripts reveal that witnesses whose accounts contradicted Wilson’s were
rigorously questioned by prosecutors.
Dorian Johnson, the key witness
who was standing next to Brown during the encounter, provided strong testimony
that called into question Wilson’s claim that he was defending his life against
a deranged aggressor. Johnson testified that Wilson, enraged that the young men
did not obey his order to get on the sidewalk, threw his patrol car into
reverse. While Wilson claimed Brown prevented him from opening his door,
Johnson testified that the officer smacked them with the door after nearly
hitting the pair. Johnson described the ensuing struggle as Wilson attempting
to pull Brown through the car window by his neck and shirt, and Brown pulling
away. Johnson never saw Brown reach for Wilson’s gun or punch the officer.
Johnson testified that he watched a wounded Brown partially raise his hands and
say, “I don’t have a gun” before being fatally shot.
Wilson’s description of Brown
as a “demon” with superhuman strength and unremitting rage, and his description
of the neighborhood as “hostile,” illustrate implicit racial bias that taints
use-of-force decisions. These biases surely contribute to the fact that African
Americans are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than whites in the
U.S., but the statement’s racial implications remained unexamined.
Prosecutors never asked Wilson
why he did not attempt to drive away while Brown was allegedly reaching through
his vehicle window or to reconcile the contradiction between his claim that
Brown punched the left side of his face and the documented injuries which appear
on his right side.Wilson, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and 210 pounds, is never
asked to explain why he “felt like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan”
during his struggle with Brown, who is Wilson’s height and 290 pounds.
The police investigation itself
revealed strong biases toward the police officer and against Michael Brown,
leading to an ongoing federal investigation into the police department’s
history of discriminatory policing practices, use of excessive force and
violations of detainees’ constitutional rights.
It is important that
communities throughout this country re-evaluate and reform our processes by
which justice is determined. We must work to ferret out biases that threaten
the very foundation of society and taint decisions rendered by our justice
system.
It is also critical that we
acknowledge the impact of implicit bias in decisions regarding stopping,
investigating, arresting and prosecuting citizens, and in gauging whether
deadly force is necessary. We must also demand that law enforcement agencies
begin using available technology, such as police body cameras, to improve
transparency and accountability to the public they are sworn to serve. And we
must pledge to honor the request of Michael Brown’s family to work together to
ensure that this tragedy is not repeated as it has been in the past.”
