Drug case that won Darren Wilson an award at risk
CLAYTON • The drug case that resulted in an award for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson is now at risk after he failed to show up for a hearing in the case Monday.
The case has also raised questions about how many others may be affected by the investigation into Wilson's Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The preliminary hearing was scheduled for Monday in the case of Christopher A. Brooks, 28, who currently faces a single felony drug charge from a 2013 arrest.
A prosecutor told St. Louis County Associate Circuit Judge Mary Bruntrager Schroder in court that the case would instead be taken in front of a grand jury as early as Wednesday – an alternate path to advance the case.
Prosecutors may have no more luck getting Wilson to show there, however.
Brooks lawyer Nick Zotos said he'd been told by Wilson's lawyers that Wilson would not appear at the preliminary examination or in front of a grand jury. He asked Schroeder to dismiss the case or set a hearing a week from Monday.
Instead, she set another hearing for Oct. 27.
In an interview after the hearing, Zotos said that prosecutors would have several chances to get Wilson to the grand jury before the end of the month.
But he said he had been “assured” by Wilson's lawyers that Wilson would not show up for any hearings in the case, or for any other cases this year. He also said that he spoke with one defense lawyer Monday who had another case involving Wilson, scheduled for trial in October.
Wilson's lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment.
Ed Magee, spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, said that that cases are sometimes scheduled for the grand jury when a witness is unavailable. He said that no decision had yet been made in the case, but said that prosecutors would "take a look at it." Magee also said that the case could not proceed if Wilson did not testify.
Magee said that there are about half a dozen pending cases involving Wilson, and prosecutors would be making decisions on a "case-by-case" basis.
Wilson has not been seen publicly since Brown's death and is currently on paid administrative leave. He testified Sept. 16 in front of a different St. Louis County grand jury, the one investigating the Brown shooting.
Zotos, asked why Wilson would testify in front of one grand jury and not another, he replied, “Well, it served his purpose. Today, it doesn't serve his purpose.”
Brooks declined to comment after Monday's hearing, but he has been anticipating a dismissal since last month, when he predicted in a Facebook post that the charges would be dropped. He also claimed Wilson “beat my ass in my front yard while I was handcuffed then gave me 6 felonies.”
Brooks also said that he had been “at war” with Ferguson and Dellwood police “since I moved to the county.” The post was later deleted, but not before being shared on social media.
Asked about the allegations involving Wilson's use of force, Zotos characterized Brooks as having been “manhandled” and said that the police report Wilson authored was just one version of the events.
The City of Ferguson released a heavily redacted version of the Brooks arrest in response to a Sunshine request for the case that resulted in a commendation in front of the city council earlier this year. The Post-Dispatch obtained an unredacted copy of the report from Zotos last month.
In the report of the Feb. 2,, 2013 arrest, Wilson wrote he'd received a call about a suspicious vehicle that may have been involved in a drug transaction. When he arrived, the two men in the PT Cruiser got out. Wilson claimed he smelled marijuana. He talked to both Brooks and Erik C. Johnson, 28, of unincorporated west St. Louis County, and handcuffed the two men together. But when he asked for Brooks' keys so he could search the car, Brooks refused, saying he didn't “want to get into trouble,” the report says.
Wilson tried to grab the keys, which were in the front pocket of Brooks' hooded sweatshirt, and Brooks slapped his hand away, the report says. The men struggled for the keys until Wilson was able to grab them.
Wilson then ordered Brooks to get on the ground. Brooks refused and was pulling away, Wilson claimed, until Wilson pushed or pulled him down and called for help via his radio from other officers. Wilson reported that Brooks was yelling for his cousin to “get” Wilson. The cousin was neither named nor arrested.
Wilson cuffed Brooks with a second set of handcuffs, then cuffed Johnson. Wilson's report says Johnson never resisted. It also says Wilson never struck or used a weapon against Brooks, only “hand control and the positioning of my body weight.”
After Brooks and Johnson were placed in other police cars, Wilson unlocked the PT Cruiser's door and wrote that he found bags of marijuana and a bag containing 10 pills. His report suggests that the two men were repacking the pot into smaller bags for resale.
A detective filed an addendum to the report saying that Brooks admitted that he had six or seven ounces of marijuana in the PT Cruiser, and that he sells it at $5 to $10 a bag to support his family. He also admitted that he thought the pills were Xanax, and he was also planning to sell them, the report says.
Johnson refused to talk to police without a lawyer.
Wilson requested seven charges, including three drug charges, as well as resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.
Johnson has also been charged but has not arrested.
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