In August 2014, a white cop named Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Police left Brown's dead body in the middle of the road for four hours. After protesters across the nation demanded accountability, Wilson was indicted for murder. But the following November, a smirking prosecutor announced on national television that a grand jury had decided not to indict.
There was a satisfied look smeared across Bob McCulloch's face as he announced that the case would not go forward, which was slightly confusing. After all, it was his job to secure an indictment, and here he was standing up in front of the nation admitting his failure and smiling about it.
It became clear fairly quickly, however, that McCulloch hadn't been interested in actually getting an indictment at all. Turns out his actions were unusual for a prosecuting attorney in a grand jury hearing: He presented evidence to the jury but basically let them sort through it alone. He allowed Wilson—the subject of the investigation—to testify. He chose not to recommend any specific charges against Wilson. In other words, he did everything in his power to make it look as if he were trying to bring Officer Wilson to justice, while actually doing everything in his power to avoid further prosecuting him.
This week, McCulloch was named Prosecutor of the Year in Missouri. It's almost unimaginable—and a clear slap in the face—to give such an award to a prosecutor who smiled as he told the world that he had failed to do his job, and a boy's murder would not be prosecuted as a result.
Prosecutors in America have little accountability, outrageous discretion, and monumentally more resources than their public defender counterparts. This makes it easier for some, like McCulloch, to let their personal beliefs blatantly interfere with their job.
When McCulloch was 12 years old his father, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty by a kidnapper trying to escape. The killer was black. While this alone certainly doesn't prove bias, it may be related to how McCulloch's chooses to prosecute police—and not just in the case against Darren Wilson. Read on for more.
According to Missouri Lawyers Weekly:
A search of [St. Louis] Post-Dispatch archives turned up on-duty allegations in 11 cases from stealing to fatalities. Seven of the cases went to grand juries, and only one ended with an indictment: In 1991, the year McCulloch took office, then-Kinloch Police Chief Sylvester Ingram was arrested after stolen liquor was found in his home. […]
McCulloch’s office has brought to grand juries at least five cases over six deaths at the hands of police […] None of the grand juries returned indictments.
While Michael Brown's case is the most famous, it is not McCulloch's only failure. Another racially charged case involving unarmed black men made local headlines years ago.
In 2000, two unarmed black men were in a car in a Jack in the Box parking lot. In a mangled drug bust, police shot at them 21 times, killing them both. McCulloch told the public that all 13 officers had testified that the men had driven towards the officers and that the officers feared for their safety. But after a journalist reviewed the secret grand jury tapes, it was revealed that McCulloch was lying – only three of the 13 officers said the car was moving at the time of fire. The officers had no reason to think their safety was compromised.
After a grand jury decided not to indict those officers, McCulloch spoke at a press conference where he degraded the two dead men. "These guys were bums," he stated.
McCulloch has convicted officers in his time in office (the Post-Dispatch counted 20), but not in cases involving use of force. In fact, McCulloch's convictions have often been in cases where police officers have violated the police department through theft and corruption rather than in cases where police officers have violated citizens. (McCulloch does seem to have secured convictions against officers in a number sexual abuse cases involving minors.)
But when it comes to holding officers accountable for the way they use force against ordinary citizens—especially black citizens—McCulloch can't be trusted to do his job.
Mike Brown's body is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery in St. Louis. His murderer is alive and free.
To award McCulloch the Prosecutor of the Year award is a slap in the face to all who recognize the injustice of Brown's death.