So, I'm watching the news right now. Like many people I am interested in knowing weather there will be an indictment in the Ferguson shooting case. As the prosecutor has just announced about a minute ago there will be no indictment. This means that there will be no trial at all. As I understand, the Grand Jury was unanimous in this decision. They only needed to have a vote of 9-3 to make any decision. If I'm not mistaken the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still investigating the case and doing a larger probe into the police department. Based on my current understanding of the situation, and having taken a few law classes back in college, it is unlikely that the FBI will file any charges against the police officer in question. I believe this because of how easy it is to obtain a indictment. There is an old adage that "A prosecutor could indict ham sandwich." This adage exists for a reason. I look forward to seeing what evidence and testimony was presented to the Grand Jury so that I might further refine my position on this matter. Personally, I do not like to take sides on legal matters until I have had the opportunity to review the evidence and testimony presented. Please interpret this journal as a statement of neutrality on the legal matter at hand, if nothing else.

All that being said, I am not terribly surprised that this case did not proceed to trial. The powers that be had shown their hand when the announcement was delayed. For those of you not keeping close attention to this case, the Grand Jury had the decision ready this past Friday. The announcement was postponed to today so that the governor of Missouri could activate the National Guard and establish appropriate security measures. The only reason that this decision would have been made is because the decision was made not to indict.

The reason that I post about this is that I worry. I worry about the safety of the people living in Ferguson Missouri and their families. Of particular concern is the chance that people will take this as an excuse to riot, harm people, loot and burn down local business as they did when the case initially started. I do not wish for anyone to be harmed due to this decision not to proceed to trial. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ferguson. I can only hope that those who are unsatisfied with this decision not to prosecute choose to channel their energy into making the legal system work. By all means, this case does not need to end here and there are legal options to continue.