The Justice Department is ready to clear Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown.
Federal prosecutors have begun crafting a memo recommending no civil rights charges be filed against Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot the Brown in August in Ferguson, Mo. It is not clear when the Justice Department will officially announce its decision to not indict Wilson or release the reasoning behind it.
A Justice Department decision not to charge Wilson would mean the case in the death of Brown will be officially closed, sources told the New York Times. Another completed investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence to support charges against Wilson.
The Justice Department would have had to prove that Wilson had intended to violate Brown’s rights when he had opened fire and that he knew it was wrong to do so but did it anyway in order to press civil rights charges against Wilson.
The Justice Department’s broader investigation into the Ferguson Police Department is still open. The investigation could eventually lead to changes at the overwhelmingly white department, which serves a city that is mostly black.
A Missouri grand jury also decided not to indict Brown in November.
Benjamin L. Crump, the Brown family lawyer, said he did not want to comment until the Justice Department made an official announcement. Wilson’s lawyer did not return the New York Times’ calls for comment.
The non-indictment of Wilson in November set off a firestorm of protests around the country. Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department in November.
