all factors that many say make mcculloch too close to those in uniform. one of the most controversial cases under his time has been what became known as the jack-in-the-box case. in 2000, two unarmed black men earl murray and ronald beasley were fatally shot at least 20 times during a drug bust. the officers who opened fire said they felt threatened when the men's car moved towards them - mcculloch took the case to a grand jury. >> he refused for months to release key details such as the names of the police officers who did the shooting and the number of shots fired. he called the two dead men "bums" he refused all but the most cursory contact with the african american community which was understandably upset by the police shooting of two african americans >> michael sorkin is a reporter for the st. louis post dispatch newspaper. after the grand jury decided not to indict the officers sorkin managed to get hold of secret testimony of witnesses in the case. >> we found out for the first time what actually happened in the grand jury. >> according to sorkin

a spokesperson for mcculloch's office said mr. mcculloch has not been served so he has no comment at this time. according to current missouri law, a grand juror could be imprisoned for up to a year for talking about a grand jury proceeding without permission from the court. >>> it is a big day in the nation's capital. the 114th congress gets to work early this afternoon. republicans now hold a majority of both the senate and the house. new and re-elected lawmakers will take the oath of office at noon. tracie potts is live in washington for us. what is the first thing on the agenda for republicans? >> reporter: well the keystone xl pipeline and trying to get president obama to approve it but they have to swear in dozen of new members of the house and senate. that happens this afternoon. the work gets under way. they're already getting themselves organized and gearing up for first big fight. 71 new lawmakers unpacking. >> i am so ready to get to work. >> reporter: a democrat in the white house versus congress now fully controlled by

also, just because it is a peculiar situation, the person who they might contradict his bob mccullochrosecuting attorney who would also be the person who has the discretion to decide whether or not to charge them with violating the grand jury secrecy laws. >> tony rothert, we will suddenly continue to follow this , legal director of the amerco civil liberties union desert the attorney for the grand juror who is challenging missouri's grand jury secrecy law. speaking to us from kansas city, missouri. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> new york city on tuesday, hundreds attended the funeral for former three term democratic new york governor mario cuomo including president bill clinton and former secretary of state larry clinton. cuomo died new year's day at the age of 82. he was known for supporting abortion rights, despite his catholic faith and opposing the , death penalty, among other causes, although he also expanded the state's prison system. mario cuomo is the father of the current new york governor, andrew cuo

so i think they might be successful based solely on what mcculloch did himself. >> one last questionap this up before we switch to dershowitz briefly. what's next in terms of this suit danny? what happens next? >> well this is a relatively new area of the law. like i said, the supreme court really hasn't addressed it. they addressed it obliquely as to grand jury witnesses but remember those are totally different. defense attorneys routinely need to speak to grand jury witnesses so that's a concept. so a court is going to deal with this complaint. it's what we call a section 19383 claim. so it's a complaint like any other in civil matters. a court will look at it they will probably be able to decide it mostly on the law because the facts are already out there. so a court is going to have to apply the law, what limited case law there is oto this issue and make a decision which i think will be a new area sort of a new piece of case law. new piece of precedent. >> it could be historic then. >> i think in this case normally the default rule would be never, ever ever this grand juror shoul

the lawsuit accuses prosecuting attorney bob mcculloch of presenting possible charges to the grand jury in a "muddled and untimely manner," and notes the case had a "stronger focus on the victim" -- michael brown -- than other cases. it also accuses mcculloch of publicly misrepresenting the grand jury's views, challenging "he implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges" against wilson. the juror is challenging a lifetime ban preventing grand jury members from discussing cases. a new undercover investigation has revealed inhumane and potentially illegal treatment of chickens at a slaughter plant in butterfield, minnesota. the undercover video filmed at butterfield foods marks the first-ever exposÉ at a slaughter plant for so-called "spent" hens, egg-laying chickens who spend their lives in cages, and are sent to be killed once they are no longer deemed profitable. paul shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection described the group's findings in a phone call with reporters. >> what we found at butterfield is truly sickening. perhaps most hor

. >>> virginia governor jerry mcculloch kicked in $2500 to pay for his state police security escort on a recent family vacation. the trip was to tanzania. the cost for the troopers was nearly $16,000. the virginia governor is not required to travel with a security detail, but it is standard procedure. that's according to state police whenever the governor goes out of town or even in town. police say no other governor has offered to pay part, part of the state police travel expenses. >>> a bomb threat grounds two planes at the atlanta hartville jackson today. fighter jets escorted the planes to the airport after they received credible bomb threats. a flight from oregon and a flight from milwaukee landed safely. they were searched and returned to clear to service. >>> japan trying to confirm claims that one of the hostages held by isis has been executed. isis had threatened to kill two japanese men if a $200 million ransom was not paid this week. >> reporter: islamic state militants showed a photo of kenji goto holding a photograph of haruna yukawa. the post was quickly deleted. the prim

holder declined request by local officials to announce the doj's conclusion alongside prosecutor bob mcculloch. that way it wouldn't appear they reached their opinions together. attorney general holder expected to make an official announcement before he leaves office but that depends on loreette aircrafts lynch, the successor. her confirmation hearings begin next week with little pushback expected. the family will await official word from the justice department whether or not any charges would be filed against the police officer who shot and killed him. brown's family could still file civil charges, although it's the ferguson police office they would sue not wilson himself. >>> a trip to walmart for coffee creamer ends in a choke hold. he thought he was doing something good but got arrested. foster saw a man with a concealed gun and holster walking into the store. a video shows him tackling the guy and putting him in a choke hold. here is the problem. the man had a concealed weapons permit for the gun. foster is now facing a battery charge. >>> president obama is on the move with a stop in kan

mcculloch had won a primary against a black female challenger. and you know the small turnout vote but he won the primary because the county is solidly democratic, winning the primary is effectively winning re-election, these were all dynamics that were at play. so even more than the system itself. there's a protean nature to these things. we can pass laws that say behaviors are forbidden. like the choke hold was forbidden in new york but if people don't fundamentally recognize one person's is equal to someone else's, it doesn't matter. we have a jury nullification that can happen throughout the system. the system and laws i think we learned from this circumstance are only as just as the citizenship, citizenry and those who were empowered to uphold the law. >> it's a great point. next question. >> yes, i'm rick pearlstein. i'm a historian and political journalist. i've written about ferguson in the context of history for "in these times" magazine. the question i found myself asking and unable to answer is how the instructial dispossession of ferg

. >> then you would say mcculloch was in the wrong because he released everything. >> who cities. >> problem here is let's just take a step back from the legal stuff because they with maneuver this. the public distrusts already what happened. the public already doesn't have faith in the system. so if you have a situation where one of 12 people comes forward and says i just want to tell my experience and the prosecutor who has been promising transparentally suddenly says no that is going to make people trust the system even less. >> let's throw out the law. and just make it up as we go along. >> no. >> that will make the public confident. >> let's file an injunction and -- >> i think we have a legal system and we should apply the law and that's the way we've developed this country. throw it out on a case by case basis. >> like if we were spending holidays together. >> we'll see what happens. we can say you are right or you are right. >> you're a graceful loser. >> we continue on. thanks you two. i appreciate it very much. great discussion. coming up next this absolute nightmare on the

again, there have been so many mistakes on the part of the governor, obviously, on the part of bob mcculloch, and chief jackson and the mayor and city counsel in ferguson. at every point of the way, if there was any action that would take away some of the pain and the hurt and the anger, it would have relieved some of that tension. it is natural to have a lot of anger after you see a young man black in the streets for four and a half hours, and then you see people who are either appointed or elected into their offices, and they perform in a reckless manner. so that is why we are trying to find resolve, but what it takes is a lot of cooperation on the part of not only the speaker of the house but also members of the full general assembly. i can tell you now, as i mentionmention ed before, there are open ears on the missouri state senate side where my colleagues are asking for protesters and others to please try to communicate with them on the specific needs they want and how they want to change statutes and laws in the state of missouri. >> do you think the fact that ferguson hasn't been the

the group raised concerns over the actions of prosecutor bob mcculloch, including his decision to let witness provide false testimony. >> all this comes as president obama made a single mention of ferguson in his state of the union address tuesday, prompting activists to release their own video on the state of the black union. this is a clip. >> recognize that even a black president [indiscernible] we must continue to make america uncomfortable in hopes that together we can reimagine what is possible and build a system that is designed [indiscernible] >> for more on the news that the federal government does not plan to file civil rights charges against police officer darren wilson for shooting michael brown in ferguson, missouri, we are joined by vincent warren the executive director of the center for constitutional rights. welcome back to democracy now! were you surprised? >> not terribly surprised. it is disappointing because i think a range of people want a measure of accountability. when you look at the federal civil rights laws, it is a much higher and harder burn for them to pro