The Baltimore Debacle

    By Florida Bill 

                             The Baltimore spotlight has been turned around a bit and now is focusing upon State's Atty Marilyn James Mosby for her glaring incompetence in bringing charges ranging from assault to murder against six Baltimore policemen doing their job. 
                              The policemen have been exonerated of all wrongdoing in their collaring and arrest of a 25-year-old thug with a long arrest record in April, 2015.  Tragically, the suspect, Freddie Gray, suffered a fatal spinal injury as the police were transporting him in a van to a police station for processing. 
                                When word of Gray's arrest and death became known, Baltimore citizens took to the streets with cries of police brutality against African Americans and chants of "Black Lives Matter."  Damage in the millions was caused to 285 businesses and 30 private homes. Fifteen policemen were injured, and structures were burned.  The National Guard was called out by state authorities to maintain order. 
                                  Responding to the screaming citizens and amid the violence, the baby-faced Mosby spoke out and denounced the police for their mistreatment and bias against Gray.  She promised justice, and said she felt the pain of the family that had lost a son by policemen inspired by racial hate.  
                                  Gray was well known to local police, and had been arrested more than 20 times for burglary and the distribution and possession of illegal drugs. He was collared on a street corner in possession of an illegal knife.   Six officers, three of them white and three who were African American,  participated in the arrest and transport of Gray and they became the target of protests claiming police brutality motivated by racial bias toward African Americans   
                                 The diminutive Mosby, who was elected to the office in a surprise upset in 2014, played to the crowd and fired up the racial animus.  Denouncing the behavior of the six officers

Mosby told the crowd: "I have heard your call for 'no justice, no peace.'"  
                                "Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man, and for those that are angry or hurt or have their own experience of injustice." The criminal justice system, she said, works disproportionately against communities of color. 
                            Portraying herself as a mother, the inexperienced  and incompetent Mosby declared that she could feel the pain of the family of the Grays who had now lost a son.
                             Stories of the brutality of the police against the helpless and innocent Gray blanketed the country.  Contact was made with Al Sharpton, the racial big dog, who predicted that he would lead a march on Washington in demonstration against the mistreatment of the Black man in Baltimore. 
                              Charges  ranging from assault to murder were lodged against the officers.  One was a lieutenant with 17 years on the force;  four were uniformed policemen with rookie credentials and one was an experienced woman who had just been recently promoted to sergeant.  Three officers were white and three were Black.  The most serious charges were lodged against Caesar Goodson who was driving the van which was carrying Gray to the police station.  Along with involuntary manslaughter, Goodson was charged with "second degree depraved heart murder" which means indifference to human life.
                               In the opening trial, a jury could not reach a verdict against one officer.  Subsequently, an African American judge acquitted three of the officers, and Mosby directed that all charges be dropped, and terminated further prosecutions.  She blamed the police for not thoroughly investigating the incident and the system, because it allowed the defendants to elect to be tried by a judge rather than by a jury.                             
                               Mosby's misapplication of the criminal law quickly became apparent.  Alan Dershowitz, a well known professor of law at Harvard University, said that "there is no question but that she she acted irresponsibly.  She acted politically. She acted too quickly, and the public ought to make her pay a price for seeking to distort justice." 
                              John F. Banzhaf III, a public interest law professor at George Washington University, has called for Mosby's disbarment and has said that he would be filing a complaint against her with the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission. He explained that she did not have probable cause to believe that there was sufficient admissible evidence to support a conviction of the officers, and that she made public statements regarding the case which were false.
                                Along with possible disbarment, Mosby is facing a variety of lawsuits filed by the policemen.  They include malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, false arrest and defamation.  Sgt. Alicia White was accused of murder even though she never touched Gray, according to Michael Glass, the officers' attorney.  
                                The episode in Baltimore which began in April,  2015, appears to be a repeat of the incident of the mid 2000s when three Duke University soccer players were falsely accused of raping a woman during a night of partying. The charges were bogus, but Durham county (N. Car) District Attorney Mike Nifong pursued the three athletes with mean-spirited determination, charging they had committed rape of an African American woman motivated by racial hate. In the investigation, Nifong disregarded or ignored exculpatory evidence and focused only upon obtaining convictions. Justice eventually prevailed and the athletes were exonerated.  Nifong's conduct came under scrutiny and he was adjudged to have lied to a judge, violated procedure and the canons of legal ethics and was disbarred.  

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