Missouri’s GOP Lt. Gov.: Jay Nixon ‘Wrong’ To Prejudge Ferguson Case

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, right, listens to James Beard, Army Corps of Engineers Executive Operations Manager of the Clear Water Lake, before Kinder holds a news conference at the Black River Coliseum, the largest flood... Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, right, listens to James Beard, Army Corps of Engineers Executive Operations Manager of the Clear Water Lake, before Kinder holds a news conference at the Black River Coliseum, the largest flood shelter in Poplar Bluff, Mo. on Thursday March 20, 2008. Levee breaches in southeast Missouri forced hundreds of people from their homes and left many major roadways impassable. The Coon Island levee near Poplar Bluff, Mo., broke around noon Thursday, and authorities were preparing to conduct water rescues if necessary. (AP Photo/Dan Gill) MORE LESS
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Missouri’s Republican lieutenant governor said Tuesday night that Gov. Jay Nixon (D) was “wrong” to prejudge the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo.

Fox News host Shepard Smith asked Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R) to discuss a statement Nixon gave earlier Tuesday, in which the governor said “a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued” in 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a white police officer. The incident sparked over a week of ongoing, heated protests against law enforcement in Ferguson.

Smith kicked off the discussion by suggesting that the case may have “already been decided.”

“Mr. lieutenant governor, isn’t it possible that there might be a need for justice for this police officer?” he asked.

“It’s really heartbreaking to see a man elected to an office that high in our state government, the chief executive of Missouri state government, come out with a statement like that that does prejudge the case,” Kinder responded. “I’ve been asking for everyone to step back from a rush to judgement.”

“It would be wrong for a prosecutor to say what the governor said here tonight and it’s wrong for the governor of Missouri to have said it,” he later added.

h/t Mediaite

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