Many factors compound the tragedy of Mike Brown’s death – the needless loss of a young boy’s life; the ostensible fear on the part of law enforcement that justified the use of deadly force where none was required; the unfortunate but all too common complications of race in determining what constitutes a “legitimate threat.” The list goes on, but of all the things that make Mike Brown’s death, and the subsequent lack of indictment for Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson, all the more disheartening is that this didn’t have to happen. The grand jury decision resulted in a clear reading of Missouri’s law, despite disappointing throngs of people who feel like this case is yet another example of how cavalier society still is when it comes to discarding the lives of Black boys. Although Officer Wilson’s actions could’ve clearly passed muster as murder or manslaughter, depending on the state of mind the grand jury ascribed to him at the time of Mike Brown’s killing, another part of the Missouri code, which details when a police officer can use deadly force, relieved him of all responsibility for his actions. According to Missouri Revised Statutes §563.046: A law enforcement officer in effecting an arrest or in preventing an escape from custody is justified in using deadly force only (1) When such is authorized under other sections of this chapter; or (2) When he reasonably believes that such use of deadly force is immediately necessary to effect the arrest and also reasonably believes that the person to be arrested (a) Has committed or attempted to commit a felony; (b) Is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon; or (c) May otherwise endanger life or inflict serious physical injury unless arrested without delay. Therein lies the rub. After months of investigation and days of grand jury deliberation, Darren Wilson walked NOT because he didn’t kill Mike Brown. The grand jury didn’t lack evidence supporting Officer Wilson’s responsibility for this untimely death. Instead, Missouri law excused Officer Wilson’s use of deadly force to kill Mike Brown as a sort of self-defense necessary to effect an arrest. He had a get out of jail free card, akin to the oft-discussed Florida’s stand your ground laws which many expected George Zimmerman’s lawyers to invoke during the Trayvon Martin trial (they didn’t, and Zimmerman was acquitted on plain old self-defense grounds).
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 23:48:02 +0000
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