Charles Johnson of Got News has filed a lawsuit against St. Louis County court to obtain the juvenile arrest records of Michael Brown after the court denied his request. The St. Louis county court system is about as transparent as Obama, sealing Michael Brown’s juvenile arrest records.
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| Lawsuit filed to get Michael Brown juvenile arrest records |
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Knowing the truth about Brown’s past will help us gauge the credibility of his parents and family who have called him a “gentle giant.” Brown’s strong-arm robbery of a shopkeeper would seem to put the lie to this narrative but it remains. Brown’s friends—who have changed their story already—are similarly untrustworthy in the accounts they have given.
The only thing that we do have is the public record but unfortunately the St. Louis County court doesn’t want it released. It’s irresponsible to keep that information from the public if it changes the public’s mind of the character of Michael Brown.
It’s especially irresponsible given what’s happening in Ferguson.
Never mind that a police officer has been forced to flee the state. Never mind that there has been a riot going on where people from across the country have threatened that officer’s life. Never mind that a CNN reporter has all but drawn a map to officer Darren Wilson’s home.
Got News is always going to stand against lawlessness in favor of justice.
There are also serious questions of racial equality around the release of deceased juveniles’ records in the state of Missouri.
Got News’s lawyer, John C. Burns, compared the suit to Smith v. Harold’s Supermarket, a 1984 case whose facts seem eerily to the Ferguson shooting.
William L. Halstead, a white, 18-year-old stole a packet of cigarettes. A security guard beat him so hard he broke his neck, became paralyzed, and died 19 days later. Halstead’s juvenile arrest record was released as part of a wrongful death suit filed by his family, much to their protestation.
It went to the appellate court held and then stopped. Later the Missouri Supreme Court adopted the appellate court’s reasoning in a case in 1990 (State v. Mahurin).