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Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the Ferguson grand jury decision reached the 'correct verdict'
The former mayor of New York City said the case against Darren Wilson failed two tests
Giuliani was speaking Tuesday morning with CNN's New Day
Prosecutors could have never won a trial to convict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown and the grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson was the right call, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday.
“I believe it was a correct verdict. In fact, I think it was the only verdict the grand jury could reach,” Giuliani told CNN’s New Day.
Giuliani, who also served six years as a U.S. attorney, said the case against Wilson failed the two tests that should be considered in weighing an indictment: whether there is probable cause and whether a prosecutor could clinch a conviction.
The one-time Republican presidential candidate said he doesn’t “think there’s any question they didn’t have probable cause” and said the prosecution “could never have won this case.”
Complete coverage of what’s happening in Ferguson
“They would’ve been destroyed at trial by a halfway competent defense lawyer because of all the inconsistencies,” he said. “If you can’t prove probable cause, how are you going to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt when the witnesses are contradicting themselves?”
Giuliani has been a vocal critic of the coverage of the situation in Ferguson, saying over the weekend on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that what happened to Michael Brown does not exemplify a larger national problem.
RELATED: Ferguson an exception as ’93% of blacks are killed by other blacks,’ Giuliani says
Several of the witnesses in the case gave conflicting versions of the altercation between Brown and Wilson that either contradicted the physical evidence or their own previous statements, St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloh said at a press conference Monday night.
Giuliani added that law enforcement officials should have responded more directly and forcefully to protests that turned violent Monday night.
“You have every right to protest, you have every right to scream, you have every right to yell. The first time you throw something at a police officer, you get handcuffed arrested and taken away,” Giuliani said.
He added that he would have doubled or tripled the police presence in Ferguson.
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