The family and lawyers of Michael Brown are condemning St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and his handling of their son’s case in connection with Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, calling the process “broken” and “unfair,” the Washington Post reports.
“We went through as much evidence as we could and saw how completely unfair this process was,” Benjamin Crump, a family attorney, said at a news conference in St. Louis on Tuesday. “We object publicly and loudly on behalf of Michael Brown Jr.’s family that this process is broken. The process should be indicted.”
“We said from the very beginning that the decision of this grand jury was going to be the direct reflection of the presentation of the evidence by the prosecutor,” another family attorney, Anthony Gray, added. “If they present evidence to indict, there would have been an indictment.”
The lawyers blasted McCulloch’s Monday-night statement, during which he announced the grand jury’s findings, accusing him of trying to discredit witnesses to Brown’s death, as well as the young man’s character, the Post notes. They also questioned Wilson’s description of Michael Brown as “Hulk Hogan,” while Wilson referred to himself as a 5-year-old, noting that both were about the same height, although Brown was more heavyset, the news site reported.
Ferguson fell into chaos in the immediate aftermath of the decision’s announcement, despite the family’s call for peace. As the Post notes, the family had initially called for a four-and-a-half-minute moment of silence to represent each hour that Brown’s body was left in the street, but protests quickly unraveled, with brutal clashes between officers and demonstrators.
“If you’re on Michael Brown’s side, you stand with pride and call to uphold the law,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said at Tuesday’s news conference. “If you do anything to harm others, you are not on Michael Brown’s side. You’re on your own side.”
The reaction of Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, has caught media attention, with her cry of, “Everybody wants me to be calm. You know what them bullets did to my son! They still don’t care!”
Crump pleaded for empathy for the parents, who have relived the loss of their child, saying, “Don’t condemn them for being human.”
Read more at the Washington Post.