© Reuters/Cristina Fletes-BoutteSt. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch
Some witnesses obviously lied while testifying under oath to the Ferguson grand jury that ultimately declined to indict 18-year-old Michael Brown, said the St. Louis county prosecutor in charge of the case, Bob McCulloch.
Speaking with KTRS radio, McCulloch said his goal was to have any individual who claimed to be a witness testify before the grand jury.
"Clearly some were not telling the truth," he said.
Specifically, McCulloch noted that one woman in particular who said she witnessed the shooting but "
clearly wasn't present." According to McCulloch, "she recounted a story right out of the newspaper" that matched up with the account of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown on August 9.
Notably, the account given by this witness, identified as Sandra McElroy by the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was scrutinized in great detail by investigators, who eventually concluded she could not have seen the shooting like she said she did. McElroy claimed she saw Brown charge at Wilson before he was shot.
Despite apparently knowing some witnesses were not telling the truth, McCulloch said he does not have second thoughts about the way he conducted the case,
nor does he plan on pressing charges against those who lied.
"It's a legitimate issue," McCulloch said, as quoted by
NPR. "But in the situation - again, because of the manner in which we did it - we're not going to file perjury charges against anyone.
There were people who came in and yes, absolutely lied under oath. Some lied to the FBI - even though they're not under oath, that's another potential offense, a federal offense."
Comment: Tompkins House is part of the New York City Housing Authority and was built in 1964. Not the friendliest of neighborhoods as there have been many shootings there. This execution style shooting is very disturbing and now that the shooter is dead, we may never know the reason for the shooting. But with all of the protests lately on police brutality, this is not a real surprise, especially during an anti-terrorism drill.