Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon won't remove the controversial county prosecutor from the investigation of the police killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, Nixon said Tuesday — although he was quick to point out how easy it would be for the prosecutor to step aside.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and other community leaders have called for the state to remove County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, whose "past has been suspect to the African-American community, quite frankly," Dooley said Tuesday on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show." Nixon said in a statement that while he wasn't asking McCulloch to stand aside, "there is a well-established process by which prosecutors can recuse themselves — a process Nixon said he didn't want to veer from "and potentially jeopardize the prosecution."
McCulloch has no intention of stepping aside, his spokesman said Tuesday, and a county grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing evidence in the case Wednesday. Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown's family, said Tuesday on MSNBC's "The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell" that "I know the family's concerned about the grand jury process" and would like a special prosecutor to take over.
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— M. Alex Johnson
