Activists were quick to denounce Democratic St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell after he announced Thursday that he would not bring charges against Darren Wilson.
Bell, the county’s first black prosecutor, ran on a progressive platform of criminal justice reform and many expected him to charge Wilson, a former Ferguson police officer, for shooting and killing Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. (RELATED: Four Years After Michael Brown, Missouri’s Primary Brings A New Referendum On The Case That Never Was)
After five months of review, however, Bell announced that he had not found enough evidence to bring charges against Wilson. “I can’t ethically charge him,” Bell said. “It would violate the ethical standards of my profession.”
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell will not charge Darren Wilson in connection with the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. His office reviewed the case at Brown’s parents’ request https://t.co/rDwcgcy1U6 via @StLouisAmerican pic.twitter.com/yujptRY12g
— STL Public Radio (@stlpublicradio) July 30, 2020
NEWS: St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell says he will not file criminal charges in the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown. Bell’s office had re-opened the investigation earlier this year. https://t.co/CAFJDmQOAV
— The Appeal (@theappeal) July 30, 2020
Activists were quick to attack Bell, criticizing him of using the Black Lives Matter movement to propel him into office and threatening to make him a one-term prosecutor.
Wesley Bell used the movement to run as a “progressive prosecutor,” led that boy parents on to believe that he would prosecute the cop, dissed the organizers who got him elected, and them stop returning Brown’s parents phone calls.
— derecka (@dereckapurnell) July 31, 2020
#BREAKING : After a reinvestigation St. Louis prosecutor #Wesleybell has refused to reopen the case of #MichaelBrown and will NOT prosecute #DarrenWilson for his murder. NOW we’re talking about #BreonnaTaylor … See why you look like an A-hole saying #AllLivesMattter ? #America
— Rizza Islam (@IslamRizza) July 30, 2020
This man voiced his frustrations with Wesley Bell’s announcement after today’s press conference. pic.twitter.com/GASj9iSHHr
— Joel Currier (@joelcurrier) July 30, 2020
Every “reform” Wesley Bell mentioned in that presser about Mike Brown’s case was about will be done differently after a cop murders someone.
Not a single word about eliminating police murders. Not a single effort at restricting their ability to kill.
For fucking shame.
— ashley yates (@brownblaze) July 30, 2020
Former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department, under former Attorney General Eric Holder, investigated the case and did not find enough evidence to bring charges. A grand jury convened by Bell’s predecessor, former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, also found that the evidence did not support charges against Wilson.