Although the St. Louis Grand Jury failed to indict Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown, the Grand Jury may have ignored lesser charges that could have been filed against him. As most of us know, Lawrence O'Donnell made the case on his MSNBC show that the act of firing at a fleeing suspect is illegal, per the 1985 Supreme Court Garner case, and several witnesses claimed that they saw Wilson emerge from his cruiser and fire at Michael Brown.
However, the prosecutor claimed that the witnesses were in error, and that Wilson only fired his gun from inside the cruiser during a struggle for the gun, and later to stop a charging Michael Brown at some distance from the cruiser.
This diary will examine the physical evidence to determine whether Wilson indeed shot at a fleeing Michael Brown.
more below
Bullet shell casings were recovered by the police, and provide a context for witness statements. Two shell casings were found by the cruiser, and the remainder in a cluster near Michael Brown's body.
Washington Post diagram of evidence found at the scene
Nothing in the cluster of shell casings by Michael Brown's body tells us whether Wilson was firing at Michael Brown just before Michael Brown stopped and turned around; the audio capture of the moment indicates that the shots happened in two clusters a few seconds apart, but neither piece of evidence is conclusive one way or the other.
However, if we go back to the first two shell casings (those closest to the cruiser), they tell a different story when matched to the rest of the evidence. Clearly, one of the first two shots was firing from inside the cruiser, as there is a bullet hole inside the cruiser; how the shell casing landed on the ground on the other side of the cruiser is a mystery. This bullet may have hit Michael Brown's hand, leaving some blood spatter inside and outside of the cruiser.
Okay, so that is one of the two shell casings found by the cruiser accounted for, leaving one more, although it is unclear and irrelevant which of the two casings belonged to which shot.
What is clear is that there is an "extra" shell casing; although Wilson may claim he fired a second time at Brown while struggling inside the cruiser, there is much more likely scenario:
Wilson emerged from his cruiser and fired at the fleeing Brown, who was some 20 to 25 feet away at that point.
The basis for this assertion rests on a mysterious bullet hole. Per the St. Louis County police report:
During the investigation at the scene, Detective [redacted] also noted and directed his attention to the apartment building known and numbered as 2960 Canfield Drive. Detective [redacted] observed this building's exterior consisted of brick and vinyl siding. On the north side of this building, was damage consistent with having been struck by a projectile. The damage was to the vinyl siding above the easternmost window on the first level. Detectives from the Saint Louis County Police Department's Crime Scene Unit attempted to extract a possible projectile from the building but were unable to do so due to the construction of the building and the significant structural damage that would have been required to remove an item. The interior of the building was checked and there was no penetration to the interior of the apartment.
Why is this bullet hole important? Because there really isn't an explanation for it from the prosecution, except for an inference that somehow it resulted from the struggle for the gun inside the cruiser. In other words, the prosecutor is implying that Wilson and Brown struggled for the gun inside the cruiser, the gun fired, and the bullet sailed through the cruiser, out through the cruiser in the opposite direction of the open driver's side window and hit a building behind Wilson, not only a "magic" bullet, but a "miraculous" bullet.
A simpler explanation is available via this scenario: Brown fled the cruiser after being struck by the first shot. Wilson emerged from the cruiser, and fired at the fleeing Brown. The shot missed and struck 2960 Canfield Drive.
If you look at the Washington Post diagram, and imagine Wilson standing by the cruiser's driver side door, firing at a fleeing Michael Brown some 25 feet away, running down the center of the street, it all lines up.
Also, this would explain the multiple witnesses claiming that Wilson fired at a fleeing Brown.
Unless you believe in the prosecutor's miraculous bullet theory, it would seem that Officer Wilson fired at a fleeing suspect.
Note: If you want there to be a new Grand Jury for justice in Ferguson, protesting in the streets may help, but uncovering more flaws in the conduct of the prosecutor would be very useful. There are pages and pages of testimony and evidence to be reviewed, please help!