Ferguson Grand Jury Evidence (WARNING: NON-COMEDIC POST)

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Not that the outcome isn't a real hoot, but this is really just to provide a couple of links for those who are interested.

First, this New York Times page has all the grand jury evidence in one place, including testimony, forensic reports, etc.

Second, I for some reason spent a couple hours last night sort of live-tweeting me reading the testimony of the crime-scene investigator and of Darren Wilson, and if you for some reason are interested in seeing how that unfolded, my Twitter feed is here.

The investigator's testimony was not that interesting (the reports probably are), but I did find this remarkable to the point of being almost humorous: he testified that whenever an officer is involved in a shooting, the default position is "always" that it was an "assault on law enforcement" and the officer is therefore listed as the "victim":

Odd

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Victim

I don't know—it almost seems like you should keep an open mind about that when you start an investigation, but I'm no expert. Not surprisingly, though, they got confused by their own terminology not long after this, and agreed that they would call Brown the "decedent" going forward. This being one of those cases in which the dead person is not the victim. I mean, in which we have not yet established that the victim was not the victim. Well, you know what I mean.

Wilson's testimony of course is well worth reading, but it's well past time for me to go back to comedy.