...and I don't piss off easy. WTF is the DOJ trying to do here?

_______

Justice Department condemns Ferguson leaks as effort to influence opinion

October 22, 2014, 5:29 PM



With a grand jury decision looming on whether a white police officer should face charges in the killing of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., the investigation has sprung a few leaks..

New details from the inquiry into Michael Brown�s Aug. 9 death � all provided by unidentified sources and which seem to support Officer Darren Wilson�s story of what happened that day � have emerged in St. Louis and national news outlets in recent days.

The U.S. Department of Justice condemned the leaks Wednesday as �irresponsible and highly troubling� and said, �There seems to be an inappropriate effort to influence public opinion about this case.�

The details and news reports say that Brown struggled with Wilson in his patrol car and that Wilson�s gun went off in the car before a brief foot chase ensued.

�There's really nothing to investigate. We don't have control over anybody leaking anything.�- Ed Magee, spokesman for the St.

Wilson ultimately shot Brown several times, and Brown�s body lay in the street for more than four hours, kindling a rage on the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis that has yet to wholly subside.

The leaks seemed to create a fresh rupture in trust with black St. Louis-area officials and protesters, who said Wednesday that they were upset with what they saw as another breakdown in the justice system because information from the supposedly secret grand jury continued to appear in the media. The grand jury�s decision is expected in November.

�There is no way there should be reports from all these anonymous sources and these �leaks� ....This is supposed to play out in the courts and the justice system, and not the media,� said Patricia Bynes, a Ferguson resident and prominent voice in the protest movement. Quoting a popular chant, she added, �The whole damn system is guilty as hell.�


The New York Times reported that investigators found Brown�s blood on Wilson�s gun, on the interior door panel of Wilson�s car and on Wilson�s uniform.

The Washington Post reported that several black witnesses had provided details in secret grand jury testimony that supported Wilson�s account.

Officer Darren Wilson, shown in this still image from a video, attends a council meeting in Ferguson this year.

And the official autopsy report, obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, showed a gunshot wound to Brown�s hand that appeared to be from close range. That seemed to support the officer�s account that there was a struggle for his gun inside his patrol car.

According to the preliminary police account, which was included in the autopsy report, the confrontation began when Wilson spotted Brown and a friend walking in the street:

Wilson �observed the two individuals, he requested that they get out of the roadway. The deceased became belligerent towards Officer Wilson.

�As Officer Wilson attempted to exit out of his patrol vehicle the deceased pushed his door shut and began to struggle with Officer Wilson, during the struggle the Officers weapon was un-holstered. The weapon discharged during the struggle.

�The deceased then ran down the roadway. Officer Wilson then began to chase the deceased. As he was giving chase to the deceased, the deceased turned around and ran towards officer Wilson.

�Officer Wilson had his service weapon drawn, as the deceased began to run towards him, he discharged his service weapon several times.�


Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Brown�s family, said he was not surprised by the autopsy report�s details.

�Several independent witnesses indicated there was a brief altercation between Michael Brown and Officer Wilson at the patrol car,� Crump said in a statement. �What we want to know is why Officer Wilson shot Michael Brown multiple times and killed him even though he was more than 20 feet away from his patrol car; this is the crux of the matter!�

But other activists and St. Louis-area officials saw the leaks as the crux of the matter, deriding news outlets for reporting the leaked information and investigative officials for leaking it.

�A non-transparent grand jury process and a leaky investigation is not the way the outcome of this important case should be determined,� tweeted St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who participated in many Ferguson demonstrations. �These leaks do not help restore people's faith in the justice system. Quite the opposite.�

St. Louis County prosecutor�s office spokesman Ed Magee said his office probably wouldn�t investigate the leaks because prosecutors could not force journalists to divulge their sources and because the information could be coming from federal officials in Washington.

�There�s really nothing to investigate,� Magee said Wednesday. �We don�t have control over anybody leaking anything. All we can control is people in our office and the grand jury, and it�s not coming from us or the grand jury.�

He said that �you can tell by the information they have� that the leaks are not coming from the grand jury or the prosecutor�s office, citing reports using sourcing language such as �officials briefed on the investigation.�


�We�ve got a joint investigation going on [with federal officials], so we�re sharing information and we�ve been sharing information the whole time,� Magee said.

A Justice Department spokeswoman responded in a statement to the Los Angeles Times: �The department considers the selective release of information in this investigation to be irresponsible and highly troubling. Since the release of the convenience-store footage, there seems to be an inappropriate effort to influence public opinion about this case.�

The reference to the convenience-store footage alluded to a video released by Ferguson police on the same day they disclosed Wilson's identity. The video showed Brown apparently intimidating a store clerk shortly before the shooting.

Chris King, managing editor of the St. Louis American, a newspaper for black audiences, said law enforcement officials had offered him the leaks, saying �they had been briefed on the evidence and it didn't look good for Michael Brown supporters,� but he declined and decried �third-party hearsay� in an editorial for the paper.


�Tensions are so high that preparations for riots, if Wilson walks free, are discussed in sober terms in local and national media and on street corners,� the American said in its editorial. �The editors of these powerful publications have shown a lapse in judgment and ethics that is not only shameful, but actually dangerous. We declare a mistrial in the court of public opinion.�

The paper asked that Officer Wilson be charged with second-degree murder and that his case be taken to trial.

Justice Department Condemns Leaks In Michael Brown Case As Attempt To 'Influence Public'

The Justice Department condemned a series of leaks from the investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., The Los Angeles Times reported. The death of the unarmed black teenager on Aug. 9 sparked weeks of protests and a national debate over police tactics.

The leaks from the official inquiry into the shooting appear to support the account of the incident given by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, that he and Brown struggled, and that he opened fire when Brown allegedly reached for his gun.

An unnamed Justice Department spokeswoman called the leaks "irresponsible and highly troubling" and said, "There seems to be an inappropriate effort to influence public opinion about this case," the Times reported.


An unidentified Justice Department official also told The Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly that Attorney General Eric Holder is "exasperated" by the apparent "selective leaks," in the case.

The leak of sensitive details about the official investigation have come from unnamed sources, and all seem to corroborate Wilson's account of what happened, that Brown attacked him in his car.

Unnamed government officials told The New York Times that Brown's blood was found on Wilson and on the interior of the police car, suggesting that at least some of the shots fired at Brown were at close range.

An official autopsy report obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed that Brown was shot in the hand at close range. The Post-Dispatch's report also cited experts not affiliated with the case who posited the findings suggest there was an altercation in the police car and that Brown was going for the officer's gun.

On Wednesday, unnamed sources told The Washington Post that seven or eight black witnesses have given testimony before a grand jury deciding whether to indict Wilson that was "consistent" with the officer's account. The witnesses have not gone public with their accounts for fear of their safety.

Other witnesses who have gone public about what they saw claim Brown was attempting to surrender when Wilson fired the fatal shots.

The release of the autopsy details was met with criticism by Ferguson officials and protesters; they say they're concerned that leaks from what is supposed to be a secret grand jury investigation indicate justice may be in jeopardy.

Ferguson resident and protester Patricia Byrnes told the Los Angeles Times, "There is no way there should be reports from all these anonymous sources and these 'leaks' ... This is supposed to play out in the courts and the justice system, and not the media," adding, "The whole damn system is guilty as hell."

St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, a prominent voice in the months following the incident, tweeted, "A non-transparent grand jury process and a leaky investigation is not the way the outcome of this important case should be determined."

Some protesters said they believe the leaks are intended to ready the public for the possibility that the grand jury will decide not to indict Wilson.

It's always easy to tell when there is NO leadership as they play both sides of the fence, which is what is going on here.

Look at it this way......rioting in the cold snowy winter has got to be of a lessor intensity than rioting on a hot humid summer night.

Since when is the truth considered a "leak", and then condemned by DOJ? I didn't know DOJ's job is to concern themselves with news stories?

They sure have stood by while thousands lawlessly riot, loot and pillage, and tell whatever lies keeps the natives restless.

From the beginning I've blamed the media for the rioting in Ferguson.

Their headlines screamed "unarmed black teen killed by white cop."

Instead of the more accurate "robbery suspect killed while assaulting officer."

Of course the version I prefer wouldn't win any awards. Jerks. So instead the media incites a riot, giving them more chance to portray the white cops as bad guys.

Ferguson ought to send the various news agencies the bill for rebuilding the town and all the expenses dealing with the mess.

About this latest leak? I dunno. An attempt to keep Ferguson from going up in flames again when the grand jury announces there is no case against the officer?

Guy

How, exactly, is the release of the official autopsy by the Medical Examiner jeopardize justice?

Justice in Jeopardy???



That ship sailed decades ago....

I'm not sure it's really a "leak" when the Medical Examiner provides the media with the official results of their autopsy, as per protocol. If we'll recall, the families fake autopsy report was released within days in an effort to taint the investigation.

As you know, it has nothing to do with jeopardizing justice but it does jeopardize their agenda.

You're right, and we've beat this up enough. I am literally amazed however, that the DOJ of the United States of America is stirring this pot.

Michelle and I have swapped places. For the first time in my life, I am utterly embarrassed by my country.

St. Louis County prosecutor�s office spokesman Ed Magee said his office probably wouldn�t investigate the leaks because prosecutors could not force journalists to divulge their sources and because the information could be coming from federal officials in Washington.

This.

The Washington pukes have leaking down to a science.

There will never be "peace" around the USA until race baiting stops producing results. What results? Ramping up black anger, obtaining more state & federal funding, increasing name recognition of the baiters, getting out the vote and getting front page coverage.
If blacks are allowed to realize that the overwhelming majority of whites do not hate them, wish them well and much success, this issue will be off the table and we can move on.

The "leaks" in Ferguson are purposeful acts by the DOJ to ramp up anger and funnel that energy into "getting out the vote". Witness what they are doing in Georgia - playing off of Ferguson.
Holder is the most evil US AG ever to occupy that office.
Elections matter.

This^^^

The DOJ doesn't really want the truth; they want to be in control of the truth by limiting who has access to it. Now that the truth has "leaked," it's so much harder to twist the facts.

Steve.

In the past six years, I have never heard of so many news stories prefaced by "on the condition of anonymity".

As I said, I believe both sides are being played. DOJ is pandering to the blacks in hopes of making them 'happy' and give them the 'moral' victory; whilst knowing all along what way this will turn out.

Yep.

All problems stem from leadership. It's obvious this area has none.



Travis

When it's voiced by a Dem such as Holder - the most lawless AG probably in the history of the US..

Dems HATE the truth...

yep, can't have it both ways.

I'm not much of one for twisting rules. That said, I can see where a "higher up" could reach the conclusion that a leak of info related to specifics that could soften the blow (somewhat) of the final decision might be a worthwhile course to take... Not saying it will make things better or worse, but I can see why it might be intentionally leaked.

What is crazy is the DOJ jumping in and throwing gas on the fire after the fact.

The beauty is they pander to the protest element, while keeping them riled up enough to promulgate more stuff for them to protest.

Its a dumbphuckitude feeding frenzy.

DOJ and Holder did the same thing in the Trayvon\Zimmerman case. The DA resigned because DOJ forced a trial and Holder brought in "Special Prosecutors" and still got nothing.

Love the hypocrisy.




Bitching about anonymous leaks all the while remaining unnamed in the story.

The DOJ is not afraid to leak info themselves when it serves their deranged agenda.

I gotta wonder how this is going to play out in the history books.

It seems to me that a President who truly wants to lead this nation into a new era of hope would be able to use this incident to implement significant changes in the nation's character.

He could use administrative tools to force change. The largest issue, to my mind, is that this whole catastrophe was triggered by irresponsible "news reporting". If the President were to order the FCC to investigate the St. Louis area's TV/radio stations and newspapers to determine if their reporting of the Michael Brown shooting showed due investigative diligence before they rushed to broadcast, and if those news outlets and/or reporters were sanctioned or had their FCC licenses put on probation, it would send a huge message to the media throughout America that they not only have an ethical responsibility to report the news responsibly, they could lose their livelihood for failure to do so.

Sorry about the long sentence. But to my mind, this is where it all comes down: forcing the news media to own up to their responsibilities. Ferguson would not have happened if the news media hadn't fanned the flames before, during, and after the conflagration.

Doc, I have long been of the opinion that Barack Obama was actually CREATED by the mainstream news media. I seriously believe that in collusion, the major outlets decided to see if THEY had the power to create a Presidential candidate who would win almost solely on thier presentation of him/her. Their extreme reluctance to say bad things about HIM seems to bear this out and his gratitude is showing.

Well its an out come that is not towing the party line, the Policeman murdered this innocent bystander! The MSN has and agenda along with the Justice Brothers, you have a Police chief that is pretty much a zero when it comes to leadership and you have a Governor sitting on his thumbs! From the Start of the rioting, there should have had National Guardsman ordered in, with fixed bayonets with orders to shoot every single looter on sight, this nonsense would have stopped with in an hour! Then you start arresting and putting people in jail, I would have thrown both Sharpton and Jackson in jail and kept them their but this is what the powers that be wanted and on going riot and they got it, par for the course with this bunch!

A minor correction sir!

Can you say Martial Law??

This is step one!

No way they will impose martial law. They will allow a Cat 7 [bleep] out until all the stores are looted and all the protesters are wearing new Nike's and are hung over from all the stolen Old English.

Then they will try and enforce some semblance of law after the fact.

If I were a white or Asian store owner I would be looking to sell about now.

It's because there is no leadership in our leadership. Oft times they appear subversive but it's mostly ineptitude.

They (liberals in leadership positions, not to be confused with leaders) only know how do everything to not offend the minority, that drives them more than laws and what is right.

We can't win wars against ISIS, just as we can't keep thugs under control by always trying to appease, but that's what they know. Again, because they are leaderless. A bunch of empty suites in leadership positions that aren't leaders, only appeasers.

SH is correct again.




Travis

I really like the way this is worded. I find it amazing at what "the deceased" is able to do.




Wilson �observed the two individuals, he requested that they get out of the roadway. The deceased became belligerent towards Officer Wilson.

�As Officer Wilson attempted to exit out of his patrol vehicle the deceased pushed his door shut and began to struggle with Officer Wilson, during the struggle the Officers weapon was un-holstered. The weapon discharged during the struggle."

�The deceased then ran down the roadway. Officer Wilson then began to chase the deceased. As he was giving chase to the deceased, the deceased turned around and ran towards officer Wilson.

�Officer Wilson had his service weapon drawn, as the deceased began to run towards him, he discharged his service weapon several times.�

I thought the exact same thing when I read it!!

Must be halloween time there. Expect the headless horseman to come galloping by.

But really, why not use the DECEASED's name?

Zombie

It seems pretty ominous to me that when the highest LEO in the land sides against a street level LEO, in a pretty clear cut case of self defense, that racism truly is alive and well.


Things don't look good for the USA in my estimation.

We've long had a breakdown in the rule of law, it just gets more obvious as things play out.

F&F

IRS

and now this chit in Ferguson


I swear to god I don't know how they get decent guys to be a LEO, but I'm thankful good guys are still willing to serve their communities in such a thankless task.


pretty tough when they not only have to fight the street thugs, but then try and protect themselves from their most senior officer.

despicable

It's a sign of the times in which we live... It's also a negro's world.

Leadership is always the prime factor. The Combo of Clinton and Reno gave us the massacre at Waco and the abomination of Ruby Ridge. Congress and the exec. branch then colluded in a coverup of epic proportions.

We the people allow these things to go unanswered and elect more scum to destroy our way of life. Our society permits trash and thugs to be set forth as role models and the tribe embraces their behavior.

I can only hope that the good people and decent tribes rise up before Iam too old to play.

mike r

Amen

It shows in every corner. Telling lies is considered polite. People say they want the truth till you give it to them.

No scoreboards, because every pee-wee team is a winner! A teacher can spend 98% of their time on one student, because little Jimmy is SPECIAL. He's a frigging dummy, move on.

Of course we are told you can do ANYTHING you want, if you just try hard enough (read, we lower the standards enough).

People don't want leaders, they want to be told what they want to hear.

Feds get pissy when State officials do stuff without permission.

I wish. I am just as embarrassed by a population that would allow these people to take public office.

I saw that yesterday and couldn't believe it.

They're rallying the base. Can't appear to be on the side of whitey and the poleece.

People recognize that the only way to prevent the DOJ from railroading Wilson is to leak the findings.

right
right

but Sean john and FUBU don't be makin no snowsuits

It pisses them off because they wanted to wait until after the midterms to have a riot.

This.

It's surprising to me that it's taken this long for you to get to this point. You weren't embarrassed by Holder's antics vis-a-vis Fast and Furious? What about the shameful voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers and the DOJ's "investigation"?

A few years back, SteveNO pretty much called me a Communist because I said a lot of people in Flyover Country hated the government. I didn't even say I hated it, just pointed out a fact. Steve accused me of hating the military. Hell, I'd never even said anything about the military in that post. Most of those same people have kids in the military. How could they or I hate it?

Now more than ever, a lot of people hate the government.

Exactly!

Jeopardizes agenda, which to race baiters like Obama and Holder, is the same as "justice".

Really? When did you notice?

Was it when Eric Holder said he identified with people who don't trust the police? When he said that Ferguson made it clear that a study of police bias was needed (implying, of course, that the Brown shooting was a case of police bias)? Was it when he opened a federal civil rights investigation into the death of Brown before the ink was dry on his death certificate?



No, Holder's not pissed that the information was leaked. He's pissed that the information exists. He's pissed that he can't control the message!

DOJ doesn't want anyone confused by the facts.



It's Barry's fault.

obola's Fault!!!

Yup, and that's only part of it. It's also to ramp up the vote, after all, the Dems had voter registration tables set up at the riots during the 'most aggressive' rioting, too.

There's a whole host of stuff going on there, and it's not all about Wilson shooting a thug who needed killin'.

. �What we want to know is why Officer Wilson shot Michael Brown multiple times and killed him even though he was more than 20 feet away from his patrol car; this is the crux of the matter!�

Man, that's easy!

If something/someone needs shot once, multiple times ain't a bad thing, necessarily. Real life isn't Hollywood.

What's the thing about 20 feet? He was 'sposed to let him run off? Think cops are just "road hunters", only shooting from the window? Police do tend to pursue perps actively engaged in a felony (his 2nd in 15 minutes).. especially one who has just assaulted the LEO, then again turns on the LEO in the pursuit.?

What a dumazz "we want to know" display of utter stupidity.

Remember- the ones who were BOTH fast and smart didn't get caught much back in the day... .

Methinks they doth protest too much...

fact is, that the DOJ itself, has tried to 'influence public opinion' by sending holder to Ferguson, by taking over the police investigation, and by flaming the fires of insurrection.
The kenyan won't rest until he foments and abets, a full fledged race war in America.

your absolutly right Doc.....problem is the majority of the main stream media has its mouths firmly around Obama's dick......chit like this is why Darla and i refused to be a part of the AP......