Member of Darren Wilson Grand Jury Wants to Talk

Those wondering what exactly happened behind the scenes of the grand jury that declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown may finally get to hear the inside scoop. A member of that jury, identified as "Grand Juror Doe" in court documents, filed a lawsuit today against St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, alleging violations of First Amendment rights and seeking the right to speak publicly about the jury proceedings without fear of prosecution—it's a misdemeanor for Missouri grand jurors to speak about their service, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, and Doe wants a judge to declare that law unconstitutional. "Doe would like to talk about the experience of serving on a grand jury, the evidence presented, and the investigation in a way that could contribute to the public dialogue concerning race relations," the ACLU of Missouri, which is representing the juror, announced in a statement.

The ACLU branch's legal director says in the statement that the veil of secrecy should be lifted in this "highly unusual" case. The suit claims that McCulloch handled Wilson's case differently than other grand jury cases, including presenting an overabundance of evidence, putting a more-than-typical focus on the victim, and relaying legal standards in a "muddled" and "untimely" manner, St. Louis Public Radio reports, adding that McCulloch himself has done several interviews since the Nov. 24 grand jury decision while the jurors remain barred from speaking. The public should have "complete information not controlled by the government," the executive director of the Missouri ACLU tells the Post-Dispatch. Meanwhile, McCulloch's spokesman isn't commenting because he says the prosecutor hasn't been served with the suit yet. (McCulloch says some of the grand jury witnesses lied.)