With a grand jury expected to announce this month whether or not to indict Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., police officer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown, the family's lawyer has slammed the grand jury process as "unfair," claiming it to be unlike anything he's seen before.
For three months, seven men and five women have deliberated over evidence to make a decision on whether to charge Wilson for the Aug. 9 shooting that sparked weeks of violent protests across the Ferguson community and drew national attention, The Washington Times reported.
The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, Robert McCulloch, has presented the Ferguson jury with all the evidence gathered in the police investigation, additionally offering the jurors with the opportunity to hear from any witness, including a testimony from Officer Wilson.
The main problem, specifically, lies in the fact that the prosecutor's office will most likely not make a specific recommendation about charges, but instead will give the grand jurors a range of charges to consider from involuntary manslaughter up to first-degree murder, a spokesman for McCulloch said.
Just hours before the anticipated verdict, however, attorney Benjamin Crump has revealed that the victim's family feels the grand jury procedure to be untrustworthy, which could apparently lead to Wilson avoiding trial.
"The process is completely unfair," Crump told ABC News on "This Week". "When you think about it, if this prosecutor is saying we're just going to be fair, we're not going to recommend any charges, that's different from anything he's done in his past 28 years with grand juries."
"So, now are we going to say he was unfair to all those people and he's going to be extra fair, get a police extra rights?" said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin. "Why can't it be equal justice?"
"I have no doubt if they were to indict the police officer, he would be guaranteed his full constitutional rights of innocent until proven guilty. He would get every benefit of the doubt," he continued.
"I don't worry about the due process for Officer Wilson. I worry about the due process for the little black boy dead on the ground."
But controversial cases, particularly high profile ones, have often followed a precedent where prosecutors present cases to juries without any recommendation charges, ABC News chief legal affairs anchor Dan Abrams said.
"I'm not going to dispute with you on the facts, but let's talk about the process and the law, which is that there are a lot of high profile cases, and I've seen them, where prosecutors say, 'You know what, I'm going to hand this one to the grand jury. I want the political cover on this one. I want to let them decide so I'm not the one who takes the heat on this decision,'" he said.
"So it is not sort of out of left field that in a high profile case a prosecutor hands it off to a grand jury to make that decision," he said.
Peter Joy, a professor at the Washington University of Law in St Louis, told MailOnline the charge of civil rights abuse is a much higher standard than murder or manslaughter, as the 12 jury members will have to be certain Wilson intended to violate Brown's civil rights by shooting him dead.
"The civil rights abuses are even harder to prove than an underlying criminal conviction. The federal government does not step in to pursue a civil rights conviction unless they believe it was an intentional abuse," he said.
"There are some criminal charges that don't involve that kind of mental state, like murder. For example anger. They can be guilty of acting knowingly and recklessly, but it is different to intentionally violating a civil right."
As a result, he said, they will need forensic evidence of damage to the car to disprove Wilson's account if they are to find him guilty, UK MailOnline reported.
Meanwhile, the Ferguson grand jury is set to reconvene Monday, while authorities erect metal and concrete barricades around Buzz Westfall Justice Center, where the jury is expected to announce its verdict, sources told ABC News.
Both Attorney General Eric Holder and Michael Brown Sr., the slain teenager's father, have released videos urging protesters to remain peaceful when the grand jury's decision is announced.
