The prosecutor overseeing the Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury hearing the Michael Brown case took the rare step of recording and documenting the proceedings, but that doesn't mean they'll be released to the public if Officer Darren Wilson isn't indicted, officials said Sunday.
The St. Louis County director of judicial administration, Paul Fox, released a statement Sunday saying that St. Louis Judge Carolyn Whittington has to analyze the records before she approves that they be released, and Whittington can't do that until the grand jury has finished hearing evidence.
"The court will need information it doesn't have," Fox said in response to a St. Louis Post Dispatch article that reported that Fox had said the court had already approved the request to release "virtually all the evidence that was considered" by the grand jury. "The quote attributed to me in the Post-Dispatch this morning is not accurate," Fox said.
Prosecutor Bob McCulloch has promised to record and transcribe the grand jury proceedings and release them if the grand jury doesn't indict Wilson and if he gets judicial permission to do so, according to MSNBC. "The Court awaits the decision of the Grand Jury. The Court will thereafter be guided by the law in its response to requests for Grand Jury records," Fox's statement said.
The grand jury's decision on whether to indict Wilson, who shot and killed 18-year-old Brown in August, could come this week. Ferguson officials have been preparing for the possibility of protests and violence if Wilson is not indicted.
IN-DEPTH
- Ferguson Prepares for Fallout From Michael Brown Grand Jury Decision
- No Grand Jury Decision in Michael Brown Case, Will Meet Again Monday
— Tom Winter and Elisha Fieldstadt