UPDATE: Ferguson jury has until next year to charge Darren Wilson
A grand jury in Missouri has been given until next year to decide whether a Ferguson police officer should be charged for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager.
18-year-old Michael Brown died on Aug. 9 after being shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson while walking home.
The deadline for the grand jury has been extended until January 7 to allow them to consider whether there is enough evidence to criminally charge Wilson, CNN reports.
But this does not necessarily mean that the grand jury will take that long.
During this time, the grand jury will mull testimony and come to a decision whether they believe Wilson committed a crime when he shot dead Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, on August 9.
Initially, St. Louis County Judge Carolyn Whittington said the grand jury had until November to make a decision. But she extended to order on Sept. 10, taking the grand jury’s meetings into early 2015. Police and witnesses have given different accounts of what happened during the incident, which sparked national protests and outrage over the incident.
Most of those working on Ferguson’s police force are white, and they serve a population that is two-thirds black. Many believe that racial profiling played a role in Brown’s encounter with Wilson. The grand jury consists of nine white people and three black people, according to court officials.
No matter the outcome of this investigation, black lives will always matter.
Will Officer Wilson be charged?
Is the judge giving the grand jury more time a slap in the face to those demanding justice for Mike Brown?
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