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And although Brown was unarmed when he died, it won’t necessarily be easy for the prosecutor to prove Wilson was not acting in self-defense when he shot and killed the teen. To charge Wilson with a crime, the grand jury would need to determine the officer was not acting out of a reasonable fear of a threat to his own safety or the safety of the community. He also revealed that Wilson had been interviewed by investigators and would be given the opportunity to testify in secret before the grand jury. In the shooting death of Michael Brown, it could take weeks or even months to present the evidence in the case, McCulloch spokesman Ed Magee said Tuesday. He was eventually found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter. George Zimmerman was not arrested for over a month after fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, as prosecutors investigated whether Zimmerman acted in self-defense. Theodore Wafer, the Dearborn Heights, Michigan man who claimed self-defense after fatally shooting 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his front porch, was not charged with second-degree murder for nearly two weeks after the incident. A murder conviction against the offending officer is unlikely, legal experts and civil rights attorneys told The New York Times. A lesser charge is possible.Įven when the killer is not a police officer, it often takes weeks for prosecutors to build a case against someone claiming self-defense. It’s a high bar for prosecutors to indict a cop. In the recent chokehold death of Eric Garner by a New York police officer, the Staten Island district attorney didn’t announce the opening of a grand jury investigation for nearly three weeks after a medical examiner determined Garner’s death was a homicide. In the meantime, MSNBC’s Benjamin Landy summarizes exactly what the Grand Jurors will be asked to consider in this case: That process apparently began yesterday and could last well into September at the very least. However, because of the unique legal issues implicated by officer involved shootings, as well as the fact that the evidence that we know of to date is unclear to say the very least, it was always apparent that this matter would instead by referred to a Grand Jury. In theory, that could be done via a prosecutor filing a complaint in state court and an arrest warrant being issued for the officer. More importantly, there are significant questions regarding this case that raise the possibility that Officer Wilson could end up being acquitted, in no small part because the state would find it difficult to prove its case.īefore we get to that point, though, there first has to be a determination that there is probable cause that Officer Wilson committed a crime. Notwithstanding the demands of the protesters, though, it is likely going to be quite some time before any criminal action against Officer Wilson proceeds forward at either the state or federal level if it proceeds at all. Inevitably, there has been much speculation over the past week over the status of any future legal proceedings related to the shooting of Michael Brown by Darren Williams that have sparked protests that seem likely to continue well past the two week anniversary of the shooting on Saturday, especially with Brown’s funeral now scheduled for Monday and likely to draw big crowds.