Voters oust prosecutor who handled probe of cop who shot Michael Brown; ACLU bought education ads
Robert McCulloch/St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s website.
Missouri voters have ousted a longtime St. Louis County prosecutor criticized for his handling of the grand jury inquiry into the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.
Reformer Wesley Bell defeated 28-year prosecutor Robert McCulloch in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, report the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Huffington Post. There is no Republican challenger.
The vote was widely seen as a referendum on McCulloch’s handling of the August 2014 shooting death that sparked protests in Ferguson, Missouri, according to the Huffington Post. Grand jurors declined to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death.
“Obviously Ferguson defined this election,” said St. Louis University political science professor Ken Warren in an interview with the Post-Dispatch, adding that he was in “total disbelief” over the result.
Bell is a city council member in Ferguson. He has said he won’t seek the death penalty and he will not seek cash bail for minor offenses.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Missouri spent more than $244,000 to educate voters about the candidates’ positions, according to a press release. The money funded radio ads, phone calls, digital ads, and door-to-door canvassing.
The ACLU does not endorse candidates, but the education effort “provided voters with essential information on civil liberties issues,” according to ACLU of Missouri executive director Jeffrey Mittman, who was quoted in the release.
Updated with ACLU information at 9:50 a.m.
