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December 22, 2014

Ferguson Prosecutor Admits Calling Witnesses Who Lied 
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The prosecutor who oversaw the Michael Brown grand jury has acknowledged
knowingly calling witnesses who weren't telling the truth. In his first
interview since announcing the non-indictment of officer Darren Wilson
last month, Bob Mc Culloch told a St. Louis radio station he decided to
call all potential witnesses, even those who lied.

Bob Mc Culloch: "Early on, I decided that anyone who claimed to have
witnessed anything was going to be presented to the grand jury. And I
knew that no matter how I handled this, there would be criticism of it.
So if I didn't put those witnesses on, then we'd be discussing now why I
didn't put those witnesses on, even though their statements were not
accurate … But I thought it was much more important to present anybody
and everybody, and some that, yes, clearly were not telling the truth.
No question about it."

Mc Culloch claims the lying went "both ways." He acknowledged that one
witness who testified in Wilson's favor "clearly wasn't present" at the
scene, an apparent reference to "Witness 40," a woman with a history of
mental issues, racist comments and fabricated claims. In a letter,
Missouri state lawmaker Karla May called for investigating Mc Culloch
for prosecutorial misconduct, saying: "There is at least some evidence
to suggest that Mc Culloch manipulated the grand jury process from the
beginning to ensure that Officer Wilson would not be indicted."

 

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