Sanity and Justice At Last

Now I will say it:  Judge Barry Williams was brave in acquitting Officer Caesar Goodson in the death of Freddie Gray.  One might say that he merely did his job, but some jobs are performed under higher pressure and scrutiny than others.

I first became concerned about his succumbing to pressure when he refused to move the Freddie Gray trials out of Baltimore.  The head of the local NAACP, Tessa Hill-Aston, best illustrated the problem after the Goodson verdict when she opined that a jury would have found Goodson guilty because of their "emotions."  Plenty of jurors in the mistrial of William Porter were moved emotionally to convict him. These trials belonged elsewhere.

Then Judge Williams repeatedly failed to dismiss charges after prosecutors presented their cases against Porter, Edward Nero, and Goodson despite the woeful lack of evidence.  But in the end, when he had to make the most important decision of the Freddie Gray trials, Judge Williams properly applied the law to the evidence and acquitted Goodson of all charges.  He deserves props for this, because plenty of people succumb to political pressure.

No props go to Marilyn Mosby, who turned in a disgraceful performance and made Williams' job so much easier.  Some give Mosby credit for "trying," and do not believe that Goodson's and Nero's acquittals reflect on the appropriateness of her bringing charges.  On the contrary, these verdicts say all we need to know about Mosby's ethics, competency, and the damage she has inflicted upon public safety and the criminal justice system. She announced that her mission was to get justice "for Freddie Gray," not to get justice. She spent less than two weeks investigating his death, ignoring the police detectives and lying about using the sheriff's office as investigators.  She elevated a negligence claim into a murder case, such that too many now think that there's been no "accountability" for Gray's death despite a $6 million settlement.  She claimed officers should not have arrested Gray because the knife he carried was legal, when it wasn't.  She never mentioned a rough ride in her initial charges, then realized late in the game that she needed one to convict for murder.  And the evidence she presented was that Goodson took a wide right turn and then got out of his van. Pathetic does not even describe Mosby's case.

Mosby has accomplished three things in this sorry saga:

• She raised false expectations for police accountability, such that many who already feel short-changed by the criminal justice system have yet another example of a system that doesn't work. (In fact, it worked perfectly to expose her case.)
• Mosby demonstrated that she is a political creature who is not to be trusted with the job of following the evidence wherever it leads, the first duty of the State's Attorney.  So while some who already distrusted the "system" have more reason to do, many others have a new (and well-founded) distrust of Baltimore's prosecutor.
• Citizens of Baltimore are less safe because Mosby's reckless charges have caused individual police officers to step back from proactive policing.

I had hoped not to hear any more drivel from the Baltimore Sun or anyone else unfamiliar with the ethical duty of a prosecutor.  But immediately after the verdict the Sun's editors wrote this:

We give [Mosby] the benefit of the doubt that she and her deputies believed they had a real case.  Indeed, it’s worth noting that Ms. Mosby’s office chose not to present to a grand jury the false imprisonment charges against three officers that she had initially announced. As the facts became clearer, prosecutors adjusted course.

Astonishing.  That they would point to one dropped misdemeanor charge in the midst of an invented murder case as evidence of Mosby's good faith is all we need to know about the Sun's ability to assess her performance. Mosby rushed her investigation for political purposes, ignored any facts that did not support her desire to file criminal charges, and constantly changed theories of criminal liability to give her case legs.  The only thing that became "clearer" about the facts was that no crime was committed, yet she forged ahead.  Sun, give it up.

I will write a wrap-up piece somewhere down the road, when all the cases finally finish.  Let's hope that's sooner rather than later.  If Goodson, the van driver, is not guilty, none of the officers are.  But our Three Blind Mice still get to decide whether we have to endure more of their folly.