Legal Ethics, Police

St. Louis Prosecutor Pleads Guilty To Covering Up Police Brutality

The system worked this time, but this is likely the exception that proves the rule.

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After Bob McCulloch’s shameless effort to stack the deck against the indictment of Darren Wilson — up to and including an apparent admission of suborning perjury — and the Department of Justice released reports blasting both Ferguson and St. Louis for systemic racial disparities in how they mete out criminal justice, you knew the shocking stories were going to keep on coming. I mean, they still made Bob McCulloch “Prosecutor of the Year” after all that, which is just straight-up trolling from a culture of prosecutorial indifference.

So prepare to be unsurprised to learn that a former St. Louis prosecutor, Bliss Barber Worrell, has pleaded guilty in federal court to misprision of a felony for helping protect a cop who wailed on a suspect in custody and handcuffed.

Even Commissioner Gordon tried to stop Batman when he went too far because even in heroic revenge fantasy plays we understand that people should know it’s wrong to brutally beat defenseless suspects, a lesson lost on a lot of former St. Louis prosecutors.

Last year, a man named Michael Waller was caught trying to buy a bus pass using a credit card stolen in a vehicle break-in. Unfortunately for Waller, the credit card belonged to the daughter of Detective Thomas Carroll. According to Worrell’s plea, Carroll told her that “he threw Waller against a wall, beat him, threw a chair at him and shoved his ‘pistol down the guy’s throat.'”

When Worrell learned of the incident she decided to assist the investigation and formally charge Carroll to the full extent of the law actively cover up the abuse:

Worrell discussed the assault with colleagues that July 23. The group later texted about regret that they discussed it within earshot of another prosecutor who “would not cover for, joke about, or conceal information about a law enforcement officer unjustifiably beating up an individual in his custody,” the agreement says.

Yes, that’s what they should regret. One of the other prosecutors involved, who was also forced to resign, was Katherine Dierdorf bringing us to this nugget:

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Worrell is the daughter-in-law of former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Todd Worrell. Dierdorf is the daughter of former St. Louis Cardinals football player and broadcaster Dan Dierdorf.

Well, there you go. I’m assuming Worrell talked about Carroll’s situation and Dierdorf offered useless platitudes of agreement.

As the plea explains, after IA brought their investigation to prosecutors, Worrell supervised a novice prosecutor in filing the charges against Carroll, complete with an “escape” narrative and offering a revised account of the injuries Waller received.

The ruse didn’t last long. Within days of the beating, Worrell, Dierdorf, and “an unspecified number” of prosecutors were forced out and Carroll’s 25 year career was over. St. Louis got it right this time. And yet, in light of the DOJ reports, it’s hard not to wonder if the firm response, based on their willingness to believe the career criminal victim, would have been as swift had the victim not been a white guy.

But frighteningly, this is one of the rare instances where the efforts of prosecutors — either individually or as an institution — bend over backward to protect the cops they work with on a daily basis. Carroll called Worrell about the incident while she was at a Cardinals game and followed up with her a few days later while she went for a run. He didn’t develop the chutzpah to casually call up a lawyer with the power to throw him in jail and admit to gross brutality out of nowhere. Why did Carroll have confidence that Worrell would protect him? That’s the question St. Louis should be asking itself.

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Not to get all “opening narration of Law & Order” on you, but a system that puts the burden on young lawyers to discipline the very same people they work with every day is tailor-made for abuse.

Former St. Louis prosecutor admits covering up officer’s assault on handcuffed suspect [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Earlier: Did Robert McCulloch Just Admit To Suborning Perjury?​
DOJ: St. Louis County’s Juvenile Justice System Is Lacking In Justice

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