St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch dismissed five pending felony court cases Wednesday because they depend on testimony from Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
Wilson is a key witness in the five cases, which cannot continue without his testimony.
Wilson, who fatally shot unarmed teen Michael Brown on August 9 and set off weeks of protests and backlash against police, has been in hiding since the shooting. Wilson, who is on paid administrative leave, emerged briefly to testify in Clayton to the grand jury investigating Brown's death, but he was not seen in public.
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Wilson was a central witness to a 2013 marijuana possession case due to be tried on Monday, but a judge dismissed the case when Wilson failed to appear.
Of the 4,200 felony cases pending in the circuit court of St. Louis County, Wilson was a witness in ten, according to the prosecutor's office. Of those ten, Wilson was an "indispensable witness" in only five, all of which have since been dismissed.
The five cases where Wilson played a minor role will continue without Wilson as a witness.
"Neither the cases being dismissed nor the prosecution of those remaining will in any manner affect the investigation or the presentation of the evidence to the grand jury in the shooting death of Michael Brown," according to the prosecuting attorney's office.
Follow Lindsay Toler on Twitter at @StLouisLindsay. E-mail the author at [email protected].
