Harvard Professor Emeritus, Alan Dershowitz, joined Fox News’ Megyn Kelly last night to discuss charges filed against Baltimore law enforcement officers in the Freddie Gray case.
Kelly addressed speculation about bias in prosecutor Marilyn Mosby’s public statements and then gave the floor to Dershowitz.
“If you’re the prosecutor, you have to be concerned about doing justice for everybody — not just for the victim, not just for the family of the victim, not just for the youth of Baltimore, but also for the accused, for the policemen who have been accused and may have been scapegoated,” Dershowitz explained.
Recognizing Mosby’s intent was likely to “quell the riots,” something she did with relative success, Derschowitz said, “but you can’t sacrifice individual defendants to the need to stop riots. Imagine jurors who are going to sit now in Baltimore and say, if we acquit these defendants, our houses might get burned down, our stores will be attacked, our children won’t be safe.”
Can the accused get a fair trial in Baltimore? Not according to Dershowitz. “This trial can’t proceed in Baltimore, it will have to move out of Baltimore and it will need a new prosecutor,” he suggested. Though as Kelly pointed out, Gray’s family wants the case to stay put.
But what about the rights of the accused? What about the presumption of innocence? And that whole due process thing?
“Who is there on behalf of the people charged with crime?” Dershowitz asked. Indicating he’s seen no evidence of murder, Dershowitz suggests Mosby has overcharged and is now at risk of “losing everything.”
Mosby may have temporarily calmed the Baltimore rebellion, but she may have sacrificed justice, due process, and future safety to do so.
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