Darren Wilson Juror Must Seek State Court Approval To Talk

A member of the grand jury that decided not to pursue charges against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown must go to a state court to seek permission to talk publicly about that decision, a federal judge ruled. The juror, represented by the ACLU, claims in a lawsuit that he seeks to challenge St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s assertion that “all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges,” and that he wants to “advocate for legislative change” of the grand jury process. “How Missouri manages its criminal justice proceedings and how it employs and supervises its grand juries is an area of fundamental importance to a sovereign state,” U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel wrote. “Federal intervention would interfere with Missouri’s procedures and policies in an area of special state interest, that is, the control, use, and structure of its grand jury system.”