Freddie Gray Trials: Prosecutors Drop Remaining Trials Against Officers
Mosby throws in the towel, awaits the officers’ civil suit against her
This morning Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby dropped all criminal charges against the remaining “Freddie Gray” defendants, reports the Baltimore Sun.
There were three trials remaining–de novo trials of Officer Garrett Miller (whose trial was scheduled to begin today) and Sergeant Alicia White, as well as a re-trial of Officer William Porter. Porter, the first officer to be tried in this series of prosecutions, had his trial end in a hung jury and was immediately scheduled for re-trial by prosecutors.
Four trials, including Porter’s initial mistrial, had been completed, including bench trials of Officer Edward Nero, Officer Caesar Goodson, and Lieutenant Brian Rice. None of the officers tried to date had been found guilty of so much as a single charge brought against them.
Miller’s trial was expected to be particularly difficult for the prosecution, because they had previously compelled Miller to testify under limited immunity in prior “Freddie Gray” trials. This precluded the prosecution from using anything he said in that testimony, or anything derived from that testimony, in Miller’s own trial, creating a huge administrative nightmare for the prosecution to prove it had met this obligation. There was also a distinct possibility that prosecutors, who it was revealed had themselves conducted their investigation of the officers, might have to take the stand and testify under oath as to their investigatory activities.
Many legal experts, including this humble correspondent, had believed from the start that there simply existed no factual basis on which any of the officers could be found guilty of any criminal misconduct, absent some surprise reveal of incriminating evidence by the prosecution.
Instead, the reverse happened–all evidentiary surprises ended up proving exculpatory to the officers. These evidentiary surprises include the unexpected testimony by a lead police investigator that the medical examiner had initially believed Gray’s death to have been an accident, and the surprise affidavit issued by the Baltimore Sheriff’s Office that contrary to prosecution claims they had never conducted an investigation of Gray’s death.
As the dust now settles it is appears clearer than ever that the prosecutions of these six officers was little more than a vicious act of legal malfeasance perpetrated solely for the political advancement and aggrandizement of Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby. The officers targeted by Mosby have since brought a civil suit against the prosecutor, and it remains to be seen whether the courts will conclude that her conduct was sufficient egregious to warrant piercing of the immunity normally provided prosecutors against such suits.
We here at Legal Insurrection look forward to following and reporting on the civil suit against Mosby with the same zeal as we did her prosecution of these officers.
–-Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
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Comments
She can teach typewriter repair with Nifong.
I want to say that justice was done here, but I can’t.
None of these officers should have ever faced any charges, and justice will not be done until Mosby is removed from office and forced to pay heavily for her misconduct and abuse of power.
The sad part of that she will be completely fine. For starters she has “double protected” status. In her press conference she is blaming everyone but herself for bringing these baseless charges; corrupt investigators, the criminal justice system, the lack of a jury.
To the social justice warriors on the left, she will be seen as a hero for trying and the acquittals a result of a corrupt system (conveniently overlooking the lack of evidence or a black judge with a history of prosecuting cops in the justice department).
I have $10 that says MSNBC will be reaching out to her to offer her a job as a on-air “legal analyst”.
Won’t they have to compete with UM?
If she, or anyone else for that matter, start up with , “they got off because of a corrupt system”, I hope to God the judge publicly calls out the accuser of him running a corrupt courtroom!
Thank Heaven none of them plea-bargained.
You have to watch her press conference. She is totally out of control.
Incredibly unprofessional.
Did she get her law degree out of a cereal box?
No, a Cracker Jack box.
What?! I never would have guessed she got that degree from a source so prestigious!
I thought she got it from a Nigerian banker who emailed her with a great opportunity…
as a Saltine-American, I feel microagressed by that comment!
As a Saltine-American, I do too. But my keyboard made me say it.
I watched it live, that was my impression as well.
Angry, unrepentant, inflammatory, unprofessional, defensive, accusatory, petulant, and doubling-down on all her mistakes. Just want you want in a State Attorney [/sarc]
She also gave a laundry list of things she claimed proved they actually had a valid case for conviction, including things like the judge declining the motions to dismiss and so on — is she really that stupid, or does she just hope her intended audience is? I’m guessing both.
She knows that her angry constituents are so stupid that they will believe anything she says.
Hopefully, we can get a YouTube link of the conference. I missed it.
Ask and ye shall receive. https://youtu.be/dQoRXO7cZLY
Dear me…! She just doesn’t know when to shut up and back away, does she?
Call my cynical (I am). I’m surprised this announcement didn’t get delayed until Friday, so she could get exactly what I think she wants out of this: riots.
Aren’t the temperatures well above average in that part of the country? Might make rioting a bit less attractive.
It’s 115 deg F on my patio at 2:22PM, but that’s here in south Nevada. Not sure about Baltimore. I thought rioting was done in hot weather.
After watching all the way through Mosby’s irrational rant (Thank you for the link), I had to click on the YouTube “related link” with a response by the Baltimore FOP.
It was rational, calm, reasonable, and very sincere. Although the prosecutor’s office seems to have been captured by a loon, it seems the police department has retained most of their sanity.
Thank God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX-NGUEC6QI
Thanks for that link. That’s what a responsible attorney looks like.
She is a classic example of someone who is given title and position without every having earned the ability to be there: a narcissist monster. Just like Barry.
Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition. But – I think Mosby is hoping to land the Grand Inquisitor job.
Not from a cereal box, but from Boston College Law School’s affirmative action programs whereby unqualified “persons of color” are given admittance over qualified persons on the hope that maybe some good will come out of the whole thing.
But don’t worry. Boston College Law School’s white guilt is firmly in place. Plenty more unqualified “persons of color” like Mosby on the way.
It’s always nice to hear good news in these dark times.
Wonderful news for the officers and the LEOs in that area!
Not really. Mosby’s tantrum today irresponsibly added gasoline to the fire under the “there ain’t no justice so we have to exact our own” crowd (over the past few weeks we’ve seen where that leads), and she made clear that she learned absolutely nothing, reaffirming that she will continue to use her office to prosecute any cop who is within a hundred yards of a suspect stubbing his toe.
If I were a law enforcement officer in Maryland I’d find another line of work or leave the state.
I can’t figure out why anyone would want to live in Maryland, but to each his own.
Indeed. I have it on good authority that police in riot gear are being deployed at this very moment.
What? Isn’t there still room for those poor people to express their first amendment right? Is the mayor becoming a cracker?
About time! Time to get the popcorn out; I expect an interesting day and night in Baltimore and the DNC.
How many think that she finally threw in the towel because she knew that the Judge was going to hammer her today when he found out her “clean team” was not as clean as Mosby portrayed?
Well, whatever the reason, at least this circus is over and the officers can get back to their lives.
Justice will not be done though, until we see Mosby out of a job.
That’s the problem. These officers will NEVER “get back to their lives.” All six will walk the Earth for the rest of their days with a bullseye on their backs, ever needing to watch out for BLM around the next corner. These officers will not be able to gain new employment. Walking the beat in Baltimore is a death wish. Further, what other jurisdiction will hire them? Their faces have been plastered across the media for the past year, and people know who they are. It only creates a dangerous situation.
Justice will be served with Mosby out of a job and on the streets. Unfortunately, I doubt she has the assets to provide six individuals a sustainable life.
She acted on behalf of The State. Can’t the officers sue and be rewarded at The State’s (that is, the taxpayers’) expense?
Potentially, yes. It may be beneficial to put Baltimore deeper in the red, financially speaking. Main goal, though, is to put Mosby out on the street. That smug look will get her far in her future life…
This six officers aren’t the only ones targeted by her hateful actions. People like her have been stirring the pot and bear responsibility for the officers who were ambushed.
Agree. I believe she dropped the charges to dodge the Kastigar hearing.
After all the Brady violations and the admissions by the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office that they had rubber stamped the charges without any independent investigation, Mosby really couldn’t take the heat for another botched legal proceeding.
She’s refusing to take the heat for these botched trials. It is all everyone elses fault. She was really counting a black juries that would convict just out of racial hate.
What are the odds that she didn’t know MD law gives defendants the right to a bench trial if they want one?
No doubt the DOJ will swiftly move forward with the prosecution of the civil rights violations so as to correct this injustice.
Oh, wait, the DOJ may be corrupt and biased, but its not stupid. Never mind.
They may, anyway. They have no case, but the Just Us Department may just be nasty enough to use “punishment by procedure”.
In her nasty, ghetto ho rant to the press today, she accuses police investigators of incompetence and obstruction of justice. This mess is far from over.
Did you also notice that she claimed to not have access to an “independent investigative agency”? But, did she claim in the beginning that the City Marshall’s had done the independent investigation, until the guy swore out an affidavit that it wasn’t true?
I thought she claimed to have conducted her own parallel investigation, so I guess she’s accusing herself of corruption. I believe her.
Here’s hoping that looking forward, no college student ever again gets Nifonged, and no police officer ever again gets Mosbyd.
Sadly the people of Maryland will never get back their tax dollars wasted on this witch hunt, money which I’m sure could have been put to better use. Of course in addition they’ll now have to pay these officers recompense for their wrongful arrests, charges, and prosecutions, as well as all legal fees, lost income, lost future income, etc., etc., etc.
I hope that the six officers get to live happy lives kicking back on a beach somewhere, ideally paid for personally by this harpy.
Andrew, I cannot wait to read your take on Mosby’s press conference.
She is cruisin’ for a bruisin’ in the get tossed out of the bar department.
Poor choice of photograph from the press conference. She looks chagrined in that one, an expression I don’t remember seeing at all during her announcement. 99.9% of the time she looked very angry and belligerent and not at all contrite.
A picture clearly picked by the liberal press to show her in a good light. Makes her look like she’s contrite and resigned to the decision even though her words are all “raging biotch.”
Its not too late to have her speak at the DNC convention. Inspiration to career wimins.
The dead criminals momma’s have had their say, let the dumb asses talk too.
The real question is how do you rebuild the trust between BPD and the state’s attorney’s office?
People are going to die as a consequence of her actions, and there is no chance that she will ever be held accountable.
Her press conference is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQoRXO7cZLY
barf bag recommended.
Speaking at a news conference Wednesday morning, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby defended prosecuting the six officers in the Freddie Gray case regardless of the outcome, noting that “as a mother,” the decision to drop the remaining charges was “agonizing.”
Just how she used “mother” in that quote is anybody’s guess…
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-miller-pretrial-motions-20160727-story.html
Check out this editorial at the Baltimore Sun, featuring the utterly priceless gem of illogic and contradiction in the headline:
“Mosby was right to file charges, right to drop them”
How about that assessment — Mosby was right in everything that she did! She is infallible!
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-gray-charges-dropped-20160727-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1gp2
“…illogic and contradiction…”
Spinning this one is a task for a real pro!
The Baltimore Bar is now at risk of losing its credibility as much as the FBI has for shilling for Clinton if they fail to disbar this psycho.
What killed Freddie?
Ummmm…stupid and thug…???
Red meat to racists, otherwise not helpful. Grow up.
Stupid is not a race.
Thug is not a race.
Get screwed, moron. Deal with facts.
That’s not what he meant & you know it hand job.
You were held back in the 5th grade for 3 years & you can’t stop being a bully as a result.
That’s what happens with a social & psychological dwarf later in life when they become an “adult.”
For a non-facetitious response – We will of course probably never know exactly how he died. Probably through impact with part of the van. It looks more and more to me that he accidentally killed himself, maybe in an attempt to sue the city. More likely probably now than that the cops really did anything wrong. Of course, that isn’t even close to the standard the prosecutors were supposed to be using.
Freddie killed Freddie. Manner of death: Accident
“What killed Freddie?”
Gravity, Physics, and his own poor decisions.
Maybe Freddie committed suicide because his momma is a Jet’s fan.
His own stupidity and Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion
Newton? That figures. Another white guy.
This was Freddie’s 25th arrest, or some such.
What killed him?
The law of averages.
Eventually, if you have enough non-compliant arrests where you’re hopped up on drugs and out of your friggin’ mind something is gonna go bad.
Blunt force trauma from standing up in a moving van. Death by misadventure.
Why is Mosby so angry? Did she get an “order” to end this circus while she wanted to march on? Who could give such an order and have this arrogant SJW obey? I ask because her behavior seems inconsistent with her ending of the trials.
She still has three fronts in this war, however: civil, political, and professional.
I wonder if it wasn’t a very strong recommendation from the Judge. He has been very not happy.
Why is she visibly “angry”?
She is performing for the crowd, a SJW’s version of faux outrage.
My guess is that her poodles Schatzow and Bledsoe had finally had enough, and told her to drop the charges or they’d quit. They’ve got legal careers to consider, and each one of these mock trials has done them additional damage.
and family of gray still gets the 6+ million $$
check for kickbacks…
So if justice is done and Mosby loses her job – and hopefully gets disbarred – you can mark my words. She will join the likes of Sharpton, BLM and other grievance-mongers to condemn the system for being unfair and racist! Her career is only getting started and I predict big things for her…….
She’ll be bundled with Michelle Obama.
A nauseating group, with the most ignorant of supporters.
If she does get sued, I hope she hires another affirmative action lawyer that is as effective as she is.
But then again, I don’t pay taxes In Maryland.
Two thumbs up!
Looking at that press conference today, what she says about the judge is contempt. The very first thing she better hope is that the actual paperwork has gone through. Otherwise she could be in a cell for violating the gag order. The only thing I am uncertain of is whether you can commit contempt outside of court.
What is more this video will not help in a bar hearing.
it also blows away any claim to sovereign immunity she has in the lawsuit. I hope she has a safe landing set up otherwise shed is in one heap big mess.
Not mention that win Trump wins it may open her up to civil rights charges.
LOL! You still believe that about the hump?
Unlikely from a New Your liberal.
#Nevertrump unto death. Gary Johnson 2016
Yes, you can commit contempt outside of the court. Defying a judges order is contempt no matter where you are standing at the time.
Clearly you are responsible for court orders you violate outside of court. I was asking about her criticisms particularly of the judge.
That would seem to be a first amendment issue to me. You have the right to criticize a judge and even say that you disagree, I don’t think you can be held in contempt for that, or you shouldn’t be able to be held in contempt in my opinion.
What she said about the Judge is “contemptuous”, but not punishable by a contempt order.
No. NOthing she said about the judge is remotely “contemptuous”.
She’s careful not to even violate the legal ethics regarding impugning the integrity of the judiciary.
And now — we dance!
https://statelymcdanielmanor.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/bal-video-mosbys-dancing-at-universoul-circus-20150601.jpeg?w=529&h=298
I hope she winds up being the designated burger spitter at McDonald’s.
Let’s just stop right here and savor the vision of this for a few moments, thanks.
There.
Nice.
I’ll have to agree with Marilyn Mosby on one thing she said.
Yes, she is a mother . . .
Boy did she ever throw a stomp-foot snit fit at that press conference.
The editorial’s thesis is absurd, not to mention dangerous. It represents a profound lack of understanding regarding prosecutorial ethics.
Filing criminal charges is not something that is supposed to be done as a “fishing expedition,” in order to divine answer to questions regarding the case at hand. Charges should only be brought when the prosecutor believes that the evidence at hand renders the charges supportable.
From the ABA Criminal Justice Standards:
Standard 3- 1.2 The Function of the Prosecutor
(c) The duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.
Standard 3-3.9 Discretion in the Charging Decision
(a) A prosecutor should not institute, or cause to be instituted, or permit the continued pendency of criminal charges when the prosecutor knows that the charges are not supported by probable cause. A prosecutor should not institute, cause to be instituted, or permit the continued pendency of criminal charges in the absence of sufficient admissible evidence to support a conviction.
But BLACK!
Which editorial are you referring to?
My post above refers to the Baltimore Sun’s editorial praising Mosby, linked in my earlier post.
Please ignore my last reply. Your explanation was on the next page.
Andrew – what are the odds that the Baltimore Six will face civil charges?
Not to answer for Andrew, but…
very low.
Partially for the reason that civil damages are reduced by any existing settlement. How a civil suit would prove up damages (a necessary element in any tort case) beyond those already paid would be terribly difficult.
Poor old Dead Fred is simply not worth any damages in excess of what’s already been paid.
I hope you’re right Rags.
These officers have been unjustly and unethically punished, and it would be a travesty to see more of it.
Does anyone think the charges were dropped so the Democrats could make hay of them at the convention tonight?, The whole thing was political and I imagine Obama had his mitts in it.
No. They dropped them today because the pretrial motions were being heard today. Maybe they were hoping that Miller would choose a jury trial. Maybe the judge told them that if they did not provide anymore evidence this time around he was going to make sure that some of the prosecution spent time in jail.
Sorry to have to say this, but if Hillary wins, Attorney General Lynch will need an Assistant Attorney General. Mosby will get that job.
I refer to the Baltimore Sun’s editorial, linked to in my earlier post in this thread.