Ex-ACLU attorney removed from grand jury

ST. LOUIS -- A former lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who filed Ferguson-related lawsuits has been removed from his post on a St. Louis County grand jury after Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch complained about him.

The grand juror was removed Sept. 28, less than two weeks after he began serving as jury foreman and considering dozens of cases, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

On Friday, the man, using the pseudonym John Roe, filed a lawsuit asking St. Louis County to put him back on the grand jury.

The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, where the unidentified man worked as a staff lawyer until March.

Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said the man did nothing to prompt his dismissal from the grand jury.

Although a transcript of the meeting between Circuit Judge Steven Goldman and the grand juror was filed under seal, portions of what was said are included in the ACLU lawsuit.

Goldman called the grand juror into his office to say there "potentially" was a conflict, and he would be removed, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say McCulloch told the judge the grand juror had represented plaintiffs in cases against St. Louis County claiming actions taken by police during the Ferguson, Missouri, unrest were unconstitutional.

McCulloch also told the judge the grand juror had been involved in a case challenging the way McCulloch handled grand-jury proceedings in which a decision was made not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown Jr.

Once the grand jury's term expired, the man has been serving on another one.

Goldman did not return a phone call seeking comment, St. Louis County Court administrator Paul Fox was unavailable, and McCulloch declined to discuss the case, the Post-Dispatch reported.

"I am not a party to the suit, have not seen the papers, and it's pending, so I have no comment at this time," McCulloch said.

Mittman declined to identify the grand juror because of the secrecy surrounding grand juries.