The Improbability of Federal Charges Against Darren Wilson

If
Darren Wilson had been indicted, he probably would have been
acquitted, since crucial questions about his deadly encounter with
Michael Brown—questions on which the police officer’s self-defense
claim hinges—remain
unresolved. The physical evidence is ambiguous, and
eyewitnesses contradict each other on important details such as who
initiated the violence, whether Wilson fired at Brown as he fled,
and whether Brown was trying to surrender or trying to attack
Wilson. That does not necessarily mean the grand jury was right to
reject criminal charges against Wilson, since the standard for an
indictment, probable cause, is much lower than the standard for
conviction, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But if a state
homicide charge would have been difficult to prove, convicting
Wilson in federal court would be nearly impossible.

After the grand jury’s decision was announced, Attorney General
Eric Holder
said the Justice Department is still investigating the
shooting. But he noted that “federal civil rights law imposes a
high legal bar in these types of cases.” The relevant
statute is Title 18, Section 242, which makes it a federal
crime to “willfully” deprive someone of his constitutional rights
“under color of any law.” If death results, this crime can be
punished by a life sentence or even by execution. But it requires a
specific intent to violate someone’s rights, and there is little
evidence that Wilson had such an intent.

Assuming that Wilson’s shooting of Brown was not legally
justified, the most likely scenario is that he acted out of anger,
unreasonable fear, or both in the heat of the moment during a brief
encounter when there was no time to form the sort of intent
required by the civil rights statute. (There would have been a
similar problem in convicting Wilson of first-degree murder, which
requires premeditation.) Last month The Washington
Post reported
that “Justice Department investigators have all but concluded they
do not have a strong enough case to bring civil rights charges
against Darren Wilson.”