i don't think bob mccullough presented it simultaneously in two ways. one, he was a neutral arbitter. and, two, he actually thinks they made the right decision and endorses it. i think the latter is certainly true and it's impossible to maintain both those postures at the same time. >> right. and that's a set of questions that i think we'll continue to face that presentation as we review it. our msnbc coverage. i want to thank chris hayes and chris melvin. our coverage of these events in ferguson does continue live right now. >>> we are looking right now here at midnight on the east coast. 11:00 p.m. local time ferguson. we are looking at these images as you can see. protesters have set some local businesses on fire. we have reports of a police car in flames in ferguson. reports of some looting and some gunfire. we have also seen peaceful protests throughout the night with, to be clear, many more peaceful protesters than people who have been bent on burning things down. just over two hours ago now where the local prosecuting attorney announced the grand

that doesn't happen very often. >> is bob mccullough a good prosecutor? does he reliably get indictments and get convictions? >> yes, he's a good prosecutor. yes, he's a very good prosecutor. he can get convictions. he can try cases. this is a different case, though, this was a police shooting. it was handled differently. even though lots of people want to say, including mr. mccullough, that the case was handled the same as any other case, why not be honest and say when there's a police shooting, it's handled differently than other shootings, because it was handled differently. >> thank you so much for your time. >>> all right, for the first time since michael brown's death we're hearing from the man who killed him. officer darren wilson speaks next. >>> at that time, can i shoot this guy, you know, legally, can i? and the question i answered myself was, i have to. if i don't, he will kill me if he gets to me. >> even though he's 35, 40 feet away? >> once he's coming that direction, if he hasn't stopped yet, when is he going to stop. >> we now have office

mccullough, when he gave his long soliloquy. that points to the fact that level of force was not justified. you want to know what happened so quickly, it's because darren wilson came upon a two young men who he didn't value as human beings. that's how this happened so quickly. >> all right. there was something that bob mccullough said yesterday in the testimony or as he announced the testimony that stuck with me. it's something i want to ask about, about how he does business. we will talk to a defense attorney who is practicing in the st. louis area for 25 years ahead. ♪ music the volkswagen golf was just named motor trend's 2015 car of the year. so was the 100% electric e-golf, and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least, the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year. from san francisco to silicon valley, boston private bank works with all kinds of people who are innovating, building, contributing -- individuals, busin

robert you were there, as prosecutor mccullough announced the decision of the grand jury. what was the reaction of the crowd near you. >> antonio, good evening. in front of the justice center in clayton, you know it was silent to be honest with you. out here you could hear a pin drop as we were listening to the prosecutor, robert mccullough. you know interesting, details came out, the grand jury started meeting on august 20th, antonio. they met for 70 hours over the course of the past three and a half months. they were able to hear over 60 witnesses and they came to the conclusion that there would be no indictment. that officer wilson was reacting at a split second like an officer should they thought. that's the decision, that's what everyone's going to have to deal with here as this is now a closed case and an open file as prosecutor bob mccullough said about five minutes ago. so we should get more details when those files get out to all of us in the coming days, hopefully we'll receive that tonight. but you know what? it's quiet here but over in ferguson about ten miles

the prosecutor bob mccullough. we had a grand jury that was handled in a way that no other grand jury in the history of this jurisdiction has ever been handled. we have a prosecutor that has given us some information, information that doesn't lead to a belief that things were done fairly. let me give you an example. you have a police officer going into a grand jury. and the issue of credibility is always if you're really trying to get to something, you try to find out about the credibility. when a police officer walks into a grand jury room, he's not vetted, it's the automatic understanding that he is telling the truth. i mean when i have voir dired witnesses or jurors, what i try to get to is whether or not they're going to believe a police officer over another person. well walking into a grand jury, the grand jurors are going to believe him. when you read the transcript from what he said, no one challenged any of the absurd illogical things that he said. so the people understand that. >> yes, i take your point on

then she said "bob mccullough, i want to meet with him right now."o, she was screaming and sobbing the last time i spoke with her. she was also photographed outside of the police station, which is where she went after leaving the hotel room with me and was crying and sobbing there, too. >> so, your sense was that she had no prior knowledge of what this result would be? >> no, she had no prior knowledge of what this result would be. i think i can confirm that, because her reaction was one of complete shock. this was not just crying, sitting down. this was a mother jumping out of her chair, running through the hotel room and distraught. i don't think someone reacts like that if they have prior knowledge and i really believe she thought something might be different, because before she got that call, she was praying with her family members and said god will prevail, justice will prevail and i think she believed officer darren wilson would face charges, and instead, when she heard he did not, she was completely taken aback and completely distraught. >> wo

prosecuting attorney robert mccullough spoke lat night of the. >> the grand jury deliberated over two days, making their final decision. they determined that no probable cause exists to file any charge against officer wilson, and returned a no true bill on east of five indictments. >> rose: just minutes after the announcement, president obama made an unusual late-night statement from the white house briefing room. >> we need to recognize this is not just an issue for ferguson. this is an issue for america. we have made enormous progress in race relations over the course of the past several decades. i have witnessed that in my own life, and to deny that progress i think so is to deny america's capacity for change. but what is also true is that there are still problems, and communities of color aren't just making these problems up. separating that from this particular decision, there are issues in which the law too often feels as if it is being applied in a discriminatory fashion. i don't think that's the norm. i don't think that's true for the majority of communities or the vast majori

if it wasn't me robert mccullough, but the 12 grand jurors. many felt his situation was his own fault, to force robert mccullough to be removed from the case and to appoint a special prosecutor. i think we're going to hear about that more and more and more if there's not an indictment and the question about whether he could have ever been fair in this case. >> what do you envision? as you say a lot of people do anticipate that the grand jury will not return an indictment against anybody in this. what do you anticipate is going to happen here? >> well, i'm encouraged by a couple of things joie. one i'm encouraged by the coalition building, by nonprofit organizations, by social justice organizations coming together and putting together a plan. so the protesters at this time, is not going to be these organic protests, but planned civil disobedience. beyond the protests, i think people want to think about not just the ferguson police department but police departments across this country dealing with african american men. ferguson is a jumping off

. >> attorneys also criticized the prosecutor, robert mccullough. they charged he has ties to law enforcement and point out his policeman father was killed by a black man. rev. al sharpton said mccullough went out of his way to discredit brown. >> i've never seen a prosecutor hold a press conference to discredit the victim. >> brown's father didn't speak but stood by his attorneys wearing a no justice no peace t- shirt. >>> tonight the officer who shot and killed michael brown is breaking his silence in a television interview darren wilson said he was sore for the loss of life but his conscience is clear. he said he was in fear for his life and did what he was trained to do. he also said if michael brown had been white it wouldn't have changed anything. >>> rarely is testimony and evidence presented to a grand jury made public, but in an apparent move towards transparency prosecutor robert mccullough did just that. we're hearing what was presented by 60 witnesses over 25 days. >> in his four hours of testimony officer darren wilson told the grand ju

i just spoke to a woman in starbucks saying, it appeared like the prosecutor mccullough was acting as darren wilson's defense attorney rather than looking out for the interest of michael brown and his family. it's kind of those two themes running through it this morning. >> what about the decision to have the announcement so late at night, 8:00 central time/9:00 eastern time? business owners that you're talking about, whether or not they decided to board up, did they have any comments or have people in the community had any comments just about the way the announcement was done, the timing of it? >> reporter: in the days leading up to the announcement, they wanted it done in the right way so people wouldn't be out on the streets, so they had advanced warning. i think that may have been what prompted them to do is-t in the evening, to avoid rush hour when people were out. what ended up happening was, it was already dark, it was night. there was a feeling that kind of provoked some of the anger and violence, and some people saying, this is their theory, of course, saying we think mccullo

this is where actually the local leadership in missouri, governor nixon, bob mccullough have failed in this moment. what they did in terms of how the trial was playing itself out. the demand on the governor to put a special prosecutor left us with a ton of doubts. had the leadership stepped up and said we want to do it right. we want to put things on the table. we want to pursue justice like we pursue justice for everyone else. the community would have had a better sense that the fact that maybe justice might be on our side in this situation. yes, there's going to be people on all sides. in is why we have leaders. this is why we go to the poll and elect folks. >> until the end appeared we're going to release the information, you know, in darkness as if to cloud our or conceal what would happen. thank you so much for your time. you're a tremendous guest. >>> more reaction to the grand jury decision and protests that continued even today. after a night of demonstrations that one official called the worst yet.

stand up and take, i have this authority, i'm not removing mccullough, i am removing mccullough, and let's get on with this. this family deserves nothing less than that. >> that is bob mccullough telling governor jay nixon to man up. jeff smith, can you talk about whom a call an comment on the nature of this grand jury? very unusual for them to be meaning for a month and hearing evidence that makes it seem like a trial. >> it is rare. llamas think they're deciding guilt or innocence as opposed to sibley deciding whether there is probable cause to indict. i agree, it is unusual. you ask you is bob macola. he is an interesting guy. he has a father who was shot and killed in the line of duty by a decades ago.eral a lot of people in the black community feel that colors his opinion and if you look at his history, i think there's some evidence that was suggest they are right. i believe there was a case in 2001 where undercover cops shot and killed to drug suspects. one of them, there is no evidence that he was involved in anything. i believe there were 21 shots that killed this man. said t

last night bob mccullough made public three months of he said, thousands of panges of witness testimonyilson's account of the fatal shooting, he shot michael brown because according to wilson he feared for his life. the police officer described brown's face as looking like a demon during the confrontation. he said brown was so physically intimidating that wilson who is 6'4" who is 210 pound, wilson felt like a five-year-old holding onto to hulk hogan. he said this. >> like it was making him mad that i'm shooting him. after brown was shot dead, wilson told the grand jury this. >> back with me now, thanks for being with me. it interesting if you read wilson's testimony, the dynamic, the difference in physical strength that he seems to describe. josh marshall talks about if there's a strategy behind it this may be it. >> legally, it goes to two points, number one, what was this officer's apprehension and he's explaining why he was so afraid as to use force under state law, that is to say if you fear imminent bodily harm or death, the second goes to credibility. so the jurors had to listen

a grand jury didn't indict the officers, and mccullough refused to file charges. despite the tide of recent negativity, he's been re-elected every time since he first took office in 1991 as a democrat. but that's the history that fuels the prosecutor's most vocal critics. >> he has shown in the past he is not sensitive to the african-american community. >> [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. >> reporter: even with the grand jury decision behind him, he still has in naysayers, questioning how the evidence was laid out and why he decided to make the announcement late in the evening when protests were more likely to get out of hand. ed lavandera, cnn, ferguson, missouri. >> and we want you to stay with cnn for the latest developments on the news in ferguson, missouri. our team of reporters is spread out across ferguson and the neighboring cities. stay up to speed on your smartphone or tablet by logging onto cnn.com. >> as we look at the week ahead, the busiest travel day of the year for the u.s. may meet up with the worst weather day yet of the season. we'll bring in our meet jips

this is about bob mccullough failing to be a prosecutor. it depends on two sides going at it and advocating. there was no advocate for mike brown. there was nobody cross examining darren wilson and the tiny bit of redness didn't correspond with the two full on punches that he said mike brown administered to him. there were so many gaps in this presentation of evidence, the grand jury didn't have enough to get to probable cause because the prosecution didn't give it to them. >> always fascinating to get your analysis. now our daily spike. social media has been so much inflamed by this turn of events. take a look at this. the hash tag ferguson has been used three million times since yesterday. this shows a heat map with the word exploding on twitter since right before the start of that news conference. you can see the spike. that's the moment when the decision was announced. also trending last night, pray for ferguson and ferguson decision. prosecutor robert mccullough spent part of the conference talking about media and social media for thei

mccullough, what questions, if any, do you have about the procedure here.u've heard many wonder why the prosecutor choice to operate in this fashion with the grand jury and the quote from congressman gregory meeks u.s. congressman he felt the prosecutor did not want an indictment here. >> i don't think that's true. while this the proceed your that mr. mccullough followed here is less rare with grand juries it's not unheard of. i've used it twice in my county. when you have a complex and difficult case it's appropriate to present every shred of evidence to the grand jury to give them every possible charge and let them come to the appropriate decision. this is the conscience of our community. it was appropriate for him, in my opinion, to do it this way. >> john, let me bring you in. do you see this as an appropriate way to proceed? i want to point out nate silver on his blog, for example, it's rare for a grand jury to do what ferguson did. according to the bureau of justice statistics, u.s. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010. the most recent y

mccullough will make the announcement? >> reporter: that's what we are expecting.be making an official announcement, from what we are told. all the best made plans have gone out the window given that they were expecting this to come on friday and then on sunday giving law enforcement plenty of time to get ready. they don't want to push this back any further. we have the holiday coming up later this week so that's the idea that they want to get this out and get -- deal with whatever the blowback or whatever the reaction publicly is, they want to deal with that now. >> so presumably, correct me if i'm wrong, is mccullough notifying parties, including michael brown's parents, for example, the attorneys, various law enforcement authorities, state and federal law enforcement authorities what the decision is so they can be ready and if he's telling these people what the decision is, aren't there serious concerns of leaks coming out in advance of a public announcement? >> reporter: well yes, wolf. that's exactly right. there's a big concern about possible leaks. so there

bob mccullough did the announcement at night. rasheed, let me bring you in. why, having worked with cities, police departments, why would that be beneficial, having that decision at 8:00 local time? >> it's not beneficial, obviously it isn't. and, you know, you have to scratch your head at sometimes when you look at the lawyers who get involved in these type of issues. are they truly consulting the rank and file, the law enforcement officers out there faced with these confrontations? obviously not. because he's somewhere in the rear with the gear, not having to deal with this. but i will say this, brooke. this incident has been going on since august. my challenge to the ferguson black community, leadership community and surrounding st. louis law enforcement community and citizens that are in positions of leadership, why don't we try to target 10, 15, 20 qualified black applicants and have them ready to go to the academy to change this. i have been saying this for months. you're lined up and prepping for these protests, the point of protests is change. so a pa

mccullough was addressing, not because we had created some sort of problem or for him or ferguson or st. louis but that there's been virtually no accountability for state sanctioned killings of black people and police abuse, and overpolicing in black and poor communities in this country for many, many years. and he was forced to answer to that. unfortunately the answer that he gave is not one that's going to satisfy most of the people who are on the ground in ferguson and he's going to have to deal with that. >> let's listen to a little bit more about what bob mccullough had to say around 9:00 knit. >> the most significant challenge encountered in this situation is the 24 hour news cycle and its insatiable a.tight covering o appetite to cover anything. if this frustrates the media and the general public and helps breed distrust of people already of the system. >> he mentioned the media several times exactly what you're talking about. i hadn't had a chance to look at black twitter tonight but the response on black twitter. on destroying a community, it doese very long to throw kerosen

our anna cabrera sat down with the prosecutor, robert mccullough, in september and asked him about his decision on what the grand jury would hear. >> this case we thought -- i thought much more important to bring in the actual witness and say, and again the transparency, the openness, ultimately when that information is released. you're hearing directly from the source, which of course gives grand jurors the opportunity as a trial jury would to observe all the witnesses as they testify, while they testify. and how they testify. how they answer. the sorts of things that may impact how a witness is received by a juror. the only thing we're not going to present to a grand jury -- and again it's by statute, by rule -- is anything that would be absolutely inadmissible in a trial. >> all right. let's bring in our panel of legal analysts to talk about this. defense attorneys mark o'mara, joey jackson and lisa monet whitman join me in new york. mark, the fact that it seems like this -- well, we know this grand jury has heard so much more evidence than typically a prosecutor would present. why

here is robert mccullough. >> it does not change.ok away as the events unfold. nor does it blackout or add to mem. it's constan-- memory. >> tonight president obama spoke to the nation encouraging common peace after the decision. >>president barack obama:we are a nation built on the rule of law. so we need if accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make. there are americans that agree with it and there are americans that are deeply disappointed, even angry. but i join michael's parents that asks anyone that protests the decision to do so peacefully. >>reporter:even while the president was asking for police, the protestors became unruly. they are illegally gathering and blocking streets. when the crowds did not budge the police forced them out. the police cars were damaged and set on fire. the brown family did release a statement it reads in part "we are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. we respectfully ask that you please keep your -- his defense lawyers say "

i think it's unfortunate that he did not watch the prosecutor mccullough's statement and i think that would have helped the president, rather than just being brief, he's kind of caught between a rock and a hard place, if he had not come out and spoken. people would have said he did not come out and speak and that led to more rioting. and the president is being himself. i could have wished for him to be a little bit stronger. but i think on balance, it was the right decision that he made. >> you're usually very critical of the president. see anything that you liked? >> the first sound bit, he called for calm. and he did what he hoped the president would do, calm the breaking windows and breaking bottles and car windows does no good. but the second sound bite, he goes into the racial divide and how law enforcement in communities of color that are on a divide and high lights the divide that is at the very center of what's going on in ferguson. it's my opinion it wasn't 20 minutes after a grand jury decides not to indict officer wilson. >> you could also say whether you believe that to be

a lot of second guessing of prosecutor robert mccullough not just because how he conducted had grand jury investigation of course but also the timing of the announcement, after dark. after about 8:30 local time. when that announcement came out, people head thit streets and hit them hard. the police chief for st. louis county says that mccullough did keep himt informed and gave him information to the extent he could. >> i did have a very good heads up. . >> you knew what the announcement what it was going to be. >> i didn't know it was going to be a non indictment. i had no idea about that. >> would that have helped if you knew that just an hour or two before the public. >> no i don't believe it. that's contrary to how we run the grand jury process in this country. >> so this evening they have added additional reinforcements and we'll see how it goes. >> thanks. not to mention the rather peaceful protest we had in washington, d.c., times square, columbus circle here in new york city as with well. >> absolutely. and it takes me back, 22 years, 6 months and 27 days i believe i counted a

rob mccullough stood up there with a smug look on his face.f people are come police it in the system. take a sick day. take a sick day. say you're sick and tired of growing up and living in a system. >> are the system that makes you feel like that if you don't change the system opting out and having a sick day and shopping on a day isn't going to change the system unless you become involved in a positive way to make that system evolve in very real terms. >> right. this is where we're at. we're in a resistance phase now. we're at an awakening phase. it happens by generation. right now we're at the full on resistance phase. the system the police the militarized police forces policy makers lawmakers do not believe that we're serious about the changes that we want to see. so we have to first show them we're willing to withhold our dollar. to withhold our participation, and call a time out. look, we might not know what the next play is going to be jose i know we need a time out. >> let me ask you about this. there are so many things in our society

this is just a total waste of someone's life. >> despite his pessimism, mccullough had found a productiveutlet to express his pain. ♪ they say it's raining in denver ♪ ♪ that it's really kind of cold but i'm just pulling time in nashville ♪ ♪ how am i supposed to know ♪ >> in a prison in nashville the home of country music, we decided it would be great if we could find a country singer, and so we kind of made a callout to the other inmates and officers and they came up with mcculloch and he turned out to be pretty good. ♪ said she never talked about me ♪ ♪ how it never did seem right ♪ ♪ i've been pulling time in nashville ♪ ♪ wasting days and wasting nights ♪ >> writing music in prison is just my life. i don't sit down to write a song. something hits me and my best songs come with about two minutes and about two or three minutes i have an excellent song. and i wrote "pulling time in nashville at the walls" which is tennessee state prison, which is shut down now. ♪ here the families come and see me ♪ ♪ they can spare some of the time ♪ >> i let my feelings out in my songs and i wrote old-

if mccullough said what he said and it's untrue -- because he said he had ongoing communications with mr. gray, and that was not true, that type of pr of posturing is abhorrent. >> mr. crump said, just for accuracy, that he was told that there would be a federal victims advocate that the family wanted, not one from the state. is that your understanding as well? >> it is and that's also what happened, in part, in the zimmerman case as well. they focused more on the doj involvement. as long as mccullough made the inquiry if they want to use the federal facilities and resources, that's great. they need to have somebody telling them what's going on in the prosecution's side. >> sonny, the prosecutor said this grand jury would be presented with every witness, every bit of evidence. are victims' parents ever called as grand jury witnesses? if they're not eyewitnesses to something. >> you know, not generally. if they're not eyewitnesses and they can't necessarily help the grand jury reach a determination, no, they're not you called. but what it still remains unusual in my mind, anderson, the

. >> according to mccullough the evidence describes a 92nd encounter between officer wilson and michael that followed a convenience store robbery. it showed wilson fired 12 times. six of which hit brown. but did it not prove wilson acted recklessly or outside the law. mccullough blames speculation and misstatements about the case for inn flaming emotions and raising tensions. >> the most significant challenge encountered in this investigation has been the 24 hour news cycle and its insatiable appetite for something, anything to talk about. following closely behind with non-stop rumors on social media. >> reporter: the body of the 18-year-old lay in the street for four hours after he died. in the days and that followed violent protests rock the st. louis area. with police routinely deploying military equipment to control demonstrators. law enforcement hopes sharing the conclusions of this grand jury will prevent further violence. >> the physical and scientific evidence examined by the grand jury combined with the witness statements supported and substantiated by that physical evidence te

louis, bob mccullough, here is my suggest to you, 12 members of the grand jury as to what should occur. well he didn't give a suggestion. he didn't say, i think perhaps you should look at charging him or taking this -- or suggesting that it go to a criminal court. he gave no suggestion. what he did is he laid out all the evidence over the course of the past three months, essentially putting it in their lap to make the decision. if you look at that, that's not usually the way it works for a grand jury, tony. >> you know and the other point to make here is, this is a grand jury that's been looking at the possibility of indicting officer wilson on state charges. there is also a federal process that is playing out as well. >> exactly. exactly. i mean you know, darren wilson, right now, what we don't know is whether he's been taken into custody. because if he's -- if the grand jury's decision is to charge him, or suggest charges to the criminal court, then darren wilson is being taken right now by the contractua criminal coure speak. and sparse the federal investigation goes -- as far as th

it's where the grand jury sits and where robert mccullough, the prosecutor handling the darren wilsonhas his offices. since many feel the grand jury will not date officer wilson, and because mccullough is too close to law enforcement to be impartial, they say, demonstrators have their eye on clayton. >> no one is sure what's going to be said or done. but with the reactions of what we're preparing for, we feel like we're preparing for a war. >> reporter: businesses located just blocks away from mccullough's office worry what will happen here when the grand jury releases its findings. julie leader says their toy store should have a steady flow of pre-holiday shoppers. but not now. >> this is our busiest time of year. with thanksgiving, and the possibility of that affecting our business. it's a little bit scary. and what damage might happen to our store. >> reporter: just down the street, more concerns. >> whichever decision comes down is, i think, still going to be problemat problematical. >> and i think that most of the problem's not coming from here. but people that are coming in and

mccullough to be recused early in the process.for a special prosecutor to come in from day one. we recognized his background that he comes from a big family of. >> no, no, no. we know that. >> his father. >> look, everybody knows that hilary. >> his behavior had been established and contentious to african-americans and other perpetrators. >> hilary, i have a quick question for you. >> absolutely. >> do you think that officer wilson, in what he has said both in the grand jury and now should be found free of indictment or do you have some problem with the things that he said? >> i have major problems with the things that he said. quite frankly, the only thing we are outrageous what we read in that transcript was the interview he did with george stephanopoulos where he referred to in his mind mr. michael brown as some kind of demon. he described his behavior in terms that reminded me very much of the breath coming out of his nose. he said when he looked in his face he saw blankness that i would describe what we talk about when we thi

this is just a total waste of someone's life. >> despite his pessimism, mccullough had found a productive to express his pain. ♪ they say it's raining in denver ♪ ♪ that it's really kind of cold but i'm just pulling time in nashville ♪ ♪ how am i supposed to know ♪ >> in a prison in nashville the home of country music, we decided it would be great if we could find a country singer, and so we kind of made a callout to the other inmates and officers and they came up with mcculloch and he turned out to be pretty good. ♪ said she never talked about me ♪ ♪ how it never did seem right ♪ ♪ i've been pulling time in nashville ♪ ♪ wasting days and wasting nights ♪ >> writing music in prison is just my life. i don't sit down to write a song. something hits me and my best songs come with about two minutes and about two or three minutes i have an excellent song. and i wrote "pulling time in nashville at the walls" which is tennessee state prison, which is shut down now. ♪ here the families come and see me ♪ ♪ they can spare some of the time ♪ >> i let my feelings out in my songs and i wrote old-time

you heard robert mccullough earlier tonight. he laid out a second version of stories and said a lot of black witnesses testified here. how do you react to that? >> well, sean, let me say first of all the brown family is extremely disappointed in the outcome today from the grand jury. it's always a travesty when our judicial system fails to respond to a very horrific situation like what we saw here today. that said we do not believe there should be any violence whatsoever. and certainly we don't want anyone else to be harmed. but when the system doesn't respond and doesn't give justice in a very tragic situation, then we have a real problem here. and so i've not heard everything and sat tentively to what he had to say, however there are many issues with the process and the questions that will have to be answered in the coming days about the decisions -- >> he went through enormous amount of detail. as you can see on the screen we have reports of rocks being thrown, bottles being thrown. we had mike tobin reporting earlier that th

. >> prosecuting attorney robert mccullough said the grand jury couldn't rely solely on wilson's testimonyr. >> like in any case, the target or the suspect is -- heist the most interest in the case. >> according to mccullough, those witnesses whose stories stayed consistent were consistent with each other, consistent with the physical evidence, where all african-american, mccullough says most of the witnesses agreed brown was moving toward wilson when the officer kill him, although one witness said that brown was standing still. i'm andrew spencer, reporting. >>> and more coverage is coming up in just a moment. but first, let's get a look at traffic and weather together. here's kate. >> i yes, ukee, today very quiet day generally speaking, and certainly if you have got your holiday travel plans ready to go here today, you will be just fine, you can see, that there is a little bit every moisture out there looking off shore on storm scan three don't worry about that, what that is is actually retreating frontal boundery, actually will stall out nearby. and almost act as a railroad track for t

mccullough, was it somebody else who called from his office?om his office. >> did they assure the family that before the decision is announced publicly they would get word of it? >> that's what they said, yes. >> but you don't believe it, is that what you're suggesting? >> well, you know, i'll take it at face value. we're going to take them at their word. >> how is the family dealing with all of this? >> it's very emotional. they're on pins and needles. wanted to know if the man who killed their unarmed child is going to be held accountable, if they even have a chance at justice or if it's going to be no indictment and it's likely that the killer of their unarmed teenager would never be held accountable. so it's very emotional for them, as it would be for every other parent. not only the parents but the family and the extended community in ferguson are all on pins and needles are wanting to know if again the system is going to, you know, not hold the killer of our children accountable. >> if there's no indictment, there are other legal steps, y

as of monday, the grand jury was still out and prosecutor bob mccullough expects a verdict by the endpeaceful. that's the type of violence and military-style police response governor nixon is expected today to denounce. he personal briefed president obama on this situation late last week. that was after the doj held a two-day training session with st. louis area police. as for michael brown's parents, well, they're currently at a u.n. committee meeting in geneva based on police brutality and racism. at ferguson city council meeting residents said little has been done in the past three months to ease racial tensions. community groups are offering nonviolent, civil disobedience training and a list of guidelines they want police and the prosecutor to follow. >> we also request bob mccullough share the date of the grand jury verdict. when the announcement is made, there's no amount of voices going to keep people from initially taking to the street. governor nixon should compel the prosecutor to cooperate. elected officials should compel chiefs of police to comply with sensible and proper

county prosz cue xx bob mccullough, a man who many people wanted to step aside.step aside. there was no special prosecutor apointed. he ended uptaking charge of this and presenting evidence to a grand jury. again, this is not a trial, we are not awaiting a verdict. we are awaiting an announcemented to a possible insdietment from a grand jury. and that grand jury has been highly anomalous. prosecutors can routinely charge themselves without going to a grand jury. if and when they do go to a grand jury, there's the old saying the prosecutor can indict a hand e ham sandwich. the standard is much lower than a trial. it's also the case that prosecutors can basically present their side of the case. they can present enough of the case to get probable cause and get an indictment. that is not what has played out here. what's played out here is a very strange and highly unusual process in which behind closed doors, meeting once or twice a week over the course of several pontds, prosecutor bob mccullough says he would prebt all evidence to the grand jury and would not add v

louis prosecutor robert mccullough announced a grand jury decided no the to tin diet officer wilson. n -- -- fro tests grew nationwide, the case has come to symbolize issues of race. president obama addressed the nation shortly after the grand jury announcement on monday evening. >> we need to recognize that this is not just an issue for ferguson-- this is an issue for america. we have made enormous progress in trais relations, over the course of the past several decades. i have witnessed that in my own life and to deny that progress, i think is to deny america's capacity for change but what is also true is that there are still problems and communities of color aren't just making these problems up . separating that from this particular decision, there are issues in which the law too often feels as if it is being applied in a discriminatory fashion. i don't thinks that tea the norm. i don't think that's true for the majority of the communities or the vast majority of law enforcement officials. but these are real issues. and we have to lift them up and not deny them or try to tamp them

i don't think bob mccullough presented it simultaneously in two ways. one, he was a neutral arbitter. and, two, he actually thinks they made the right decision and endorses it. i think the latter is certainly true and it's impossible to maintain both those postures at the same time. >> right. and that's a set of questions that i think we'll continue to face that presentation as we review it. our msnbc coverage. i want to thank chris hayes and chris melvin. our coverage of these events in ferguson does continue live right now. >>> we are looking right now here at midnight on the east coas

the county prosecutor who is handling this, bob mccullough, his news conference do we know where that is scheduled to take place, there in that office in ferguson itself, do we know? >> we don't know. and we, over the course of the weekend, actually last friday, a note was sent out saying that they don't have a time or a place for when -- whenever the decision comes out from the grand jury that they'll send out a note as to where it is, and when it is. we still don't know. what we do know is you know, behind me is the justice center where his office is and where the grand jury has been meeting over the course of the past three and a half months. it would make sense to be here but we have no confirmation on that tony. >> gotcha. and governor nixon, the state house is in jefferson city. do we know whether or not the governor has made a trip to either clayton or to ferguson? >> well, we know he's in st. louis metro area right now, his exact whereabouts unknown but he is on the ground here. clearly he is going to talk to the media, give a press conference and make some notes, upon whateve

there was an indictment of bob mccullough. there was an indictment of claire mccaskill, all political leadership. it's stunning to consider that the governor said, in a preemptive way, i'm going to bring in the national guard. well, where were they last night? >> right. >> where were they last night? this is an indictment of everybody who, they all knew this was coming. it wasn't like bob mccullough found out last week there was going to be an indictment. he knew from jump there was going to be an indictment. so did every other person in law enforcement. the fact that they allowed buildings to burn. the fact there were no national guard, even though there was a big use of the national guard before, there was no national guard in ferguson. how do you explain that? a building burned before, what did you not anticipate that another building could burn? it's just, it's just inexplicable and it's awful. >> it's, your video-point is understandable. but there's some context that's necessary. the national guard became a metaphor for b

disparaging to my mind bob mccullough. self-serving? i don't want to be -- >> it's more than self serving, let's put it in real terms for al sharpton. michael brown is his knew tuwanna brawly, he uses the sway, his relevance has been brought back. outside of the press conference, where is he? is he going to be in ferguson in a week, in six months? no. >> yeah, he'll move on. but the secret is a moral investment in the community. but you can't win when the leader is a hindrance to the policing. a civil rights leader should want to at least communicate with law and order, but he prevents communities from saving themselves by creating a conflict between law and order. as if cracking down on rioters and looters somehow decides rights to ri rights to rioter. >> there's a right to protest, but there's no a right to destroy my home and my business. >> does sharpton think that officer wilson shouldn't have stopped michael brown? because officer wilson stopped him because he suspected he was the one that robbed the convenience store and it was a

i think that hits the happened of bob mccullough.e was planning on having some kiep of planned rollout. after it was leaked by the fitz and by the justice department i think the hand was forced by eric holder and justice department with these leaks. if those leaks didn't happen he probably would have been able to do it in a more orderly fashion. >> many people were saying they hope it happened on monday. monday morning would be best. they could have daylight. they could release them from rioting. does the timing really matter? the riders are still going rioters are going to riot anyway. >> hindsight is 20/20. we had months to debate. the looting was on sunday night. i also heard the family was upset they weren't night fied the januaried inju grand jury m decision. he was forced by the feds. if they don't release that information and don't leak it to the "washington post" eszable to get his ducks in a row. the reason why it took so long is they weren't ready. they had a number of hours to have the national guard ready to get a stateme