Thursday, December 10, 2015

The Real Crime

While Rome I-mean-Baltimore burns, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is getting her rear end kicked.

Not by a brilliant defense strategy, but by the facts.  Facts that she could have discovered had she conducted herself professionally and ethically.  

People with expertise told her - immediately after her dramatic announcement of charges - that she acted too fast, that she could not possibly have known all the facts with her two-week "parallel" investigation, her failure to study the police and medical examiner's reports, and her failure to use the grand jury or her own experienced homicide division.

But she created her story and she stuck to it.  We have an exploding homicide rate, a demoralized police department, and her own office in shambles.  Perhaps all of that could have been justified had she pursued a real case of police brutality and murder.

Instead, she made the death of Freddie Gray "in police custody" the equivalent of "murder by police." She made the failure to put on a seat belt a form of homicide.  She stole the livelihood of six people for her own ideology and career.  

Her own probable cause statement did not support her sensational indictments. The autopsy report didn't either, despite it's legal conclusion (that was clearly influenced by Mosby.)  And now the facts reveal that not only are the charges not provable beyond a reasonable doubt, but the officers are actually innocent.

Freddie Gray did not suffer his fatal injury until after the second to last stop.  He wasn't being given a deliberately rough ride, but was doing his own banging around.  Perhaps a seat belt would have prevented him from killing himself, but so would his just staying seated.  In any event, there is no such crime as "homicide by no seat belt."  If one wants to call it negligence - despite other police departments (not to mention other transit vehicles, like buses) not using seat belts - then fine.  That's why the city paid the Gray family over $6 million.  But there was no police brutality or a criminal disregard for Gray's safety.

There is no way this jury can convict Officer Porter on any count.  If they do, it will prove only that Judge Williams should have changed the venue because jurors are afraid of the consequences of an acquittal.  

It's Marilyn Mosby who has committed a crime, a crime against the criminal justice system and the oath she took less than a year ago.  A crime against people who should never have been charged and prosecuted.  A crime against the citizens of Baltimore, and the false road she took them down.

It's a crime she will get away with.  But the city won't. We'll be paying for this for a long time to come.  

14 comments:

  1. Wow! How could any officer still show up for work and police that city in an environment like this?

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    1. Why would someone take a job and work in an environment like this?

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    2. Because despite what crooked Judges and politicians do and say to get fame, is totally not the police fault..they are our first line of defense against criminals, thuggs and thugg wanna-be's and anyone else who wants to cause or do harm to the citizens of Baltimore or any other city in our nation. Police officers also took an oath !

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    3. cause they are police officers and they also have taken an oath to protect and serve..But, because of the overwhelming decline of Baltimore due to poor democratic leadership for sooo long..It makes the justice system (courts) determined to make something look like what it actually is. Like the B.L.M. movement crap..They didn't want the city to come under rioting so they prosecuted fully innocent officers for nothing..She should lose her seat as Judge ! For breaking the law. I also think that the B.L.M. movement protesters are nothing more than a bunch of racist individuals looking for a reason to riot, steal and destroy . All lives matter and of coarse..POLICE LIVES MATTER !!!

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  2. Nicely said, thank you so much for writing this.I'm going to share it on my page.

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  3. "...and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:32

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  4. theyre not. the current academy class consists of (i believe) fewer than 20 recruits, and theyre now trying to bring back returned 65 year-old officers. the department is a mess.

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  5. Gray's welfare was their responsibility. Even if he caused the injury himself (doubtful), it's still on the cops. The policy to seatbelt in detainees is more than a decade old. Gray isn't the first they've killed or injured in this fashion.

    I don't doubt Mosby is corrupt: most prosecutors are. They hide behind absolute immunity, and cops hide behind qualified immunity, and both rarely have to concern themselves with being held accountable for their misconduct. That makes these prosecutions unusual.

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    1. What makes it unusual is people are accused of murder and there's no murder!

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  6. When do we stop blaming the police. Criminals in America have more rights then law biding citizens. How many lives did Freddy Grey ruin with his drug dealing? How many people Overdosed and are dead? How many people were shot or killed by the drug organization Freddy Grey distributed drugs for? Stop blaming people for Freddy Gray's bad decisions! !!!!

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  7. Bacchys - in law school, we learned to make arguments which support your position. Your argument, even at its best, relates to civil liability, i.e., a duty to maintain Gray's welfare. It has no relevance to the criminal charges, which, as you know, must carry with them a sufficient mens rea (intent) as well as evidence which meets each element of the criminal offense. I can't imagine a statement less inclined to be persuasive than yours.

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  8. You miss one critical distinction when you discuss the failure to use seat belts in police vans and school buses. The bus passengers aren't cuffed with their hands behind their backs. Regardless of what happened in the Freddie Gray case, the design and use of the city's police vans is just plain stupid. There is no way for a passenger to avoid injury if the van comes to a quick stop or makes a sharp turn. It wouldn't take great engineering skill to make the process safer.

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