1. It's far from "settled" that MB had a "clean record". The evasiveness and word parsing of everyone involved with the hearing for the juvenile records, in addition to Crump and Parks words (linked many times in earlier posts), telegraphs that there "is" a juvenile record that is being withheld. Two media entities continue to pursue release of these records. No one (well, beyond MB's mom), and including the JUDGE, is willing to say there are "no" juvenile records, which would END the pursuit to have anything that exists, released.
2. MB would likely have been charged with
Robbery (not theft, not shoplifting--
big difference between these)
in the Second degree for the convenience store robbery. Likely, assault charges would have been also attached. Maximum penalty for Robbery in the Second Degree in MO is 5-15 years. And we haven't begun to sort out the level of assault of the store clerk, and whether that was a felony or misdemeanor. And I personally believe if MB had lived to be charged, busting/ plea bargaining the robbery down to a misdemeanor "theft" would not have been possible, in light of the assault of the LEO which followed
a mere 10min later, with a struggle for the officer's weapon. Likely attempted murder would have been charged for that. IMO.
http://www.missouri-criminal-defense.com/offenses/
http://www.missouri-criminal-defense.com/assault/
3. There is not a thing in MO law that I can find that states that the recipient of an assault must be rendered "unconscious" for it to be considered "serious" under the law.
4. And then we move into the multiple potential felony and misdemeanor penalties for the defiance of a request to move to the sidewalk, the assault of the police officer, the struggle over the officer's weapon, and all of the rest of the circumstances, and MB would have unquestioningly faced
decades of prison time for his actions of Aug 9.
No, this would never, ever have been plea bargained down to something that was penalized with diversion or community service, had MB lived to be charged. OW was
not a civilian , or an equal under the law, in the encounter with MB-- he was a sworn peace officer, an authority figure. I know that this imbalance of power chafes at some people, presumably those who have a big psychological or emotional problem with authority figures, but the fact is that they were not "equals" in the eyes of the law when the beginning of the encounter with MB, DJ, and OW began. This was not a bar brawl between civilians. Attacking a sworn police officer guarantees felony charges at a minimum, and
struggling with a LEO over his/ her weapon is astonishingly brash and unwise, and very well might lead to the officer shooting you, dead.