As Twitchy reported, Gov. Jay Nixon said last night that officer Darren Wilson should be vigorously prosecuted. Not investigated. Prosecuted.
Even liberal writer Josh Marshall was astounded:
This is not remotely to suggest that evidence will not show that Darren Wilson shld be prosecuted for the death of Michael Brown but 1
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 20, 2014
is anyone else taken aback that Gov. Nixon says step two in resolving Ferguson situation is "a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued"? 2
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 20, 2014
That seems beyond what the Gov shld say in any case. But at least we in the public don't know all the facts of what happened. 3
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 20, 2014
Yes, it looks very bad, very hard to justify. But these things get investigated. What am I missing here? This isn't someone expressing an 4
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 20, 2014
opinion. It's the Governor of the state. Genuinely curious whether they meant to say "investigation" rather than "prosecution." 5
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 20, 2014
He elaborates here:
…this is the Governor of the state, the elected official who has ultimate responsibility for carrying out the laws of the state. It’s simply crazy for him to be saying there has to be a prosecution. It’s so inappropriate that I think it’s highly likely that this is actually an editing error – or someone doing the writing who just didn’t grasp the significance of the word choice.
But even if that’s the case, the principle is so basic and important that it’s important to note: the Governor shouldn’t be publicly assuming that Wilson must be prosecuted or that a prosecution must happen for justice to be served.
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