- Did not the friend ADMIT that he robbed the store?
Well, I got so much crap for using a CNN source the other day that I'm hesitant to cite where this "admission" to a
robbery (not even close) came from, but his attorney
said to MSNBC that:
“We see that there’s tape, that they claim they got a tape that shows there was some sort of strong-armed robbery,” said Freeman Bosley, Johnson’s attorney. “We need to see that tape, my client did tell us and told the FBI that they went into the store. He told FBI that [Brown] did take cigarillos. He told that to the DOJ and the St. Louis County Police.”
The only admission is of petty theft. If Brown had lived, would he be facing either petty theft
or strong arm robbery charges? If so, why isn't Dorian Johnson facing such charges already?
Simple. There's no victim.
2. The store owner/clerk has to live in that town. What if he's afraid of retaliation... which has already happened, I believe.
That's his/their decision to make, isn't it? Maybe the store owner knew how corrupt the so-called "justice system" is there and decided those $43 bucks worth of smokable cardboard wasn't worth ruining a young man's life over? Whatever, no victim, no crime.
No it's not. If it was that simple, cops and prosecutors could charge based only on the video and no victim statement would have to be sworn to. But you know as well as I, no victim, no crime.
Those who try to suppress it usually have good (if not innocent) cause to do so. If there were video of the cop shooting him in the back of the head, execution style, that would count against him. The video goes to Brown's motivation, just as an hysterical, Harless style tirade would go to the cop's.
The only "state of mind" evidence that's relevant here is the cop's. Of course he will say that he feared for his safety at each pull of the trigger, but that will be tested against any evidence and witness testimony brought to trial, if there ever is one. Brown's
actions, not state of mind, are the only relevant facts to consider to determine if the cop's state of mind was reasonable and/or legal.
People have to remember that if there's a trial in this case, it will be the shooting being scrutinized, every round fired requiring another or continued necessity based on the reasonable belief of the officer that he or others were facing a threat. The petty theft or robbery, whichever one feels they can discern from the propaganda video that the Chief released, and Brown's state of mind, will have no bearing whatsoever on whether or not each individual round fired from Wilson' weapon had a legal justification behind it. Only Wilson's state of mind that he can convince a jury about the veracity of will be relevant to that determination.
Like I said, I wouldn't bet my life on the veracity of EITHER side.
Oh, I'm not betting my life on anyone or anything. I'm trying my best to distill this down to facts, evidence and witness testimony that will matter a wit in a trial of
Wilson. The state of mind of Brown seems pretty clear as there is no doubt at all that he ran away after whatever struggle happened at/in the car. He was 35' away from the car after all, and all the witnesses say that he did run. They also all say that rounds were fired while he was running, and that he was stationary when the kill-shot was delivered. Three of the four say his hands were up. Not staking my life on anything. Just recognizing that the current state of evidence through witness accounts makes it an uphill battle for Wilson, and that assumes a trial will ensue, which I don't assume at all. In fact, I'll be fairly surprised if Wilson ever stands trial, and with the witness accounts out there, if a trial doesn't come, that will suck out loud.
Blues
