A member of the grand jury that heard the case involving the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., argued Thursday to a federal appeals court that she should be allowed to speak publicly about her experience in the 2014 shooting case that led to months of protests, Courthouse News Service reports. The juror, known only as Grand Juror Doe, sued former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, arguing that his handling of the case was poor. The suit names current Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who has succeeded McCulloch. Doe’s attorney, Gillian Wilcox of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that McCulloch’s actions give her client the right to speak out. “The prosecutor released an unprecedented amount of information that was presented to the grand jury as well as his own editorializing of that content, and that so greatly diminished the interest in secrecy,” Wilcox said after the hearing.
Judge Raymond Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, questioned Wilcox about the reputation of accused police officer Darren Wilson in allowing Doe to speak out. Wilcox said the public knew about Wilson because of the high-profile nature of the case and McCulloch’s release of documents and public statements. Emily Dodge of the Missouri Attorney General’s office argued that Doe was asking the court to create a First Amendment right specifically to her. In her lawsuit, Doe sought an exemption to the state law that requires secrecy in grand jury service in hopes of speaking about her experience.