FBI completes federal probe of Ferguson shooting

WASHINGTON -- The FBI has completed its investigation into the police shooting of an unarmed, black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

The Justice Department has not announced whether it will file a federal civil rights charge against former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. But officials and experts have said such a prosecution would be unlikely, in part because of the extraordinarily high legal standard federal prosecutors would need to meet.

The official was not authorized to discuss the case by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson declined to comment.

Wilson was cleared in November by a state grand jury in the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, a shooting that touched off protests in the streets and became part of a national conversation about race relations and police departments that patrol minority neighborhoods.

Wilson, who shot Brown after a scuffle in the street, told the grand jury that reviewed the case he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for his gun. Some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when Wilson shot him.

To mount a federal prosecution, the Justice Department would need to show that Wilson willfully deprived Brown of his civil rights. That standard, which means prosecutors must prove that an officer knowingly used more force than the law allowed, is challenging for the government to meet. Multiple high-profile police-involved deaths, including the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo in New York City, have not resulted in federal charges.

Wilson, who had been on administrative leave since the shooting, resigned days after the grand jury decision.

A separate, broader Justice Department-led investigation into the practices of the Ferguson police department remains open. That investigation, which will examine potential racial bias among officers, has the potential to have more sweeping consequences than any individual criminal prosecutions, experts say.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Justice Department lawyers were preparing a memo recommending against prosecuting Wilson, but that the memo was not yet complete and that Attorney General Eric Holder -- who is expected to leave his position within weeks -- had not yet made a decision.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Brown's family, said in a statement the family would not address speculation from anonymous officials and was waiting for an official Justice Department announcement.