Despite a Department of Justice report clearing Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson of any wrongdoing in the death of Michael Brown, on Tuesday lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus continued to call the failure to prosecute Wilson a “miscarriage of justice.”
At the conclusion of a press conference following the release of two DOJ investigations – one clearing Wilson and the other alleging widespread racial discrimination in the Ferguson justice system — CBC chairman G.K. Butterfield took a question from the press.
“The attorney general announced that they would not be charging Darren Wilson with any crimes relating to Michael Brown’s death,” a reporter asked. “I know that you had said you were extremely disappointed in that. I was hoping you can detail a little bit more your feelings on that, and also the specific detail that Michael Brown didn’t have his hands up when he was fatally shot.”
“Uh, we want to deal with this more in a macro sense,” Butterfield began, “overhauling the entire justice system.”
“And we know there was a miscarriage of justice at the local level,” William Clay (D., MO) interjected. “On the part of the St. Louis county prosecutor, the way the case was presented to the grand jury. The faults of the grand jury system. All of that came into play in this case. And it’s unfortunate, and I’m going to leave it there.”
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