Facts matter. While it's true that multiple witnesses may each report the same event differently, there are underlying elements which investigators can draw upon to clarify what really happened. And those elements help solidify the "facts" gathered, reinforcing them with tangibles that should ensure justice when reviewed impartially by the law.
From an earlier comment I'd made,
What information was actually provided to the grand jury? Was the content, the gist and flow of evidence tweaked, and their review of it carefully guided & orchestrated, to minimize & mitigate facts that damned Wilson's story while the "preferred narrative" that provided weak cover for Wilson was augmented, reinforced and enhanced?
The manner and method with which evidence was introduced, parsed, processed and presented to the grand jury will matter.
What also matters is how officials choose to frame the situation - from the original shooting through the announcement of the Grand Jury decision. One thing I'd really like to see is a transcript of the ambling prelude to the actual announcement, particularly with an uninterrupted video accompanying it. I think parsing that would be quite telling.
Why? Because facts matter - and from what I gathered simply by watching and listening during the announcement, facts and reality are being actively skewed (and skewered) in order to paint a narrative where "the last ten shots" fired at an unarmed young man is delivered as an acceptable phrase that the speaker doesn't expect to set off alarm bells.
I'd like folks to use this diary to collect some hard, damning facts that differ from the official narrative. There are, unfortunately, some big ones. Of note:
If that's not Darren Wilson standing over Mike Brown's body, then who is the doppelganger officer?
Or this: remember how many times the official police narrative claimed that Michael was killed 35 feet from Darren Wilson's SUV?
Video: Police lied. Mike Brown was killed 148 feet away from Darren Wilson's SUV
How exactly are they counting to 35?
...you get the idea. If you know of a hard fact that needs to be remembered, please add it below. Watch out for letting your emotions, anger, disappointment etc. get the better of you - remember when the right-wing loonies posted that image they claimed was Wilson, showing a man with a beat-up face, only to learn that they had mustered their forces of madness & poutrage behind the image of someone entirely different? I do - and we need our list of facts to be reality based and as clear of mistakes as possible.
So, please - add any facts, including relevant links and/or images, to the comments below. If someone has done a diary on dKos that provides more detail, list the title with a link if you would. If each of us adds at least one overlooked, forgotten, downplayed or respun fact, with context, then perhaps we can still find some justice for Michael, and continue to work toward greater accountability, responsibility, and intelligent, ethical police behavior.
Let's get everything pulled together so we can share it widely, and specifically with the DoJ and people of Ferguson.
Thank you.