Freddie Gray case: Defense files motion to remove prosecutor
Recusal…or court order?
CNN reports that attorneys for the six Baltimore police officers charged by Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby in the death of Freddie Gray have filed a lengthy motion in Baltimore City District Court to have Mosby removed from the case–either by her recusal or by court order.
The motion–which I have not yet seen, but hope to soon–purportedly sets out at least five conflicts of interest as the basis for recusal, including:
- Both Mosby and her husband, a Baltimore City Council member, are positioned for personal financial and political gain from the case.
- Mosby has existing personal relationships with potential witnesses.
- Mosby’s office took the unusual step of establishing it’s own investigation run parallel with that of the Baltimore Police Department, and lead by a former officer with a considerably checkered past.
- The existence of a pending civil suit against Mosby’s office (the relevance of this is unclear to me).
- The Gray family attorney William (Bill) Murphy (in featured image, above), is a close friend, supporter, and indeed a lawyer for Marilyn Mosby; in particular, he has contributed at least $5,000 to Mosby’s political campaigns.
More here, from CNN:
More details to come when we actually get our hands on the motions.
–-Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
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Comments
This may be nothing more than part of a “full court press” strategy.
Actually, in some places, attorneys take that conflict-of-interest stuff seriously.
It’s doubtful that Mosby takes it seriously. I suspect she will fight this and a change of venue all the way in a show of support to her mob constituency.
Mosby will not decide the motion, and if this summary is true, the conflicts are blatant.
Of course she won’t decide any motions, but I predict she will fight them to the bitter end. She has nothing to lose, as she is pandering to a mob. She’ll let the judge look like the bad guy.
I was impressed when a Fox News reporter asked Rep. Elijah Cummings one night shortly after the curfew if he would accept the decision of the state’s attorney. He quickly replied that he would and that he trusted his state’s attorney. I was quite impressed at the time, considering Cummings is a racist rabble rowser. It appears, however, that he was well aware of the plan to throw the mob six bones.
Skookum – Cummings is the filthy slime who ORDERED the IRS to go after the tea parties. And yes, ordered is the right word since he could affect the budget for the IRS. Cummings is nothing but a race hustler. He hates whites but he loves their money.
If she fights it, she’s not just an ass, but a complete ass. She can’t possibly believe that she’s going to get convictions (at least not such that will stand up on appeal), so if she’s smart, she should be happy (maybe after some dramatics) to turn the case over to a special prosecutor who could then be thrown under the bus for not fulfilling the promised social (as opposed to actual) justice.
It would be the smart thing to do: she’s already a hero to the mob and “the community,” if forced off the case she has no further liability when things go south.
But I have no reason to believe she or those advising her are that smart.
The civil case may be relevant if any of the officers charged were parties to it prior to this series of events, or if any of their attorneys are involved in the case. If it’s a parallel case they’ve filed over these charges, that would be laughed out of court – any defendant could force a prosecutor off a case by suing if it were a conflict.
While there is little chance of eventual conviction, going to trial over bogus charges will cost the officers a fortune, put them and their families under severe and prolonged stress, and ruin their careers and reputation in the process. There may be no criminal case to be had at all, but murder against a driver not even accused of driving recklessly and unlawful arrests against the original officers seem unrealistic.
Punishment is not in the sentence.
The whole prosecution/trial IS the punishment.
This is becoming a trend now.
The civil case presents a clear conflict of interest for Miss Marilyn. She would be motivated by a drive to win the criminal cases in a way that is wholly in her personal self-interest, as convictions would substantially aid her civil suit(s).
And THIS is (partly) why normally prosecutors and others (like LEOs) are given some level of immunity. You don’t want them motivated by the threat of a civil action as they are supposed to be acting in a criminal case.
Mosby has redefined “Gray Matter” to mean a “Fredie Kruger Persecution.”
Mosby is an AA beneficiary all the way. She had no justification for even being admitted to law school. Her election, such as it was, is the result of raw, racial voting.
Mosby, being black, can do NO WRONG! The same logic applies to our black messiah president. Think I’m wrong? Ask the media ….
Motion to dismiss filed today: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2075530-baltimore-cops-motion-to-dismiss.html#document/p1
Naturally, I have little understanding of this.
and then there was this: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2075531-baltimore-cops-motion-to-recuse-2.html#search/p1/BALTIMORE
“JOINT MOTION TO DISMISS AND IN THE ALTERNATIVE FOR RECUSAL OF
BALTIMORE CITY OFFICE”
So that’s all I got
An attempt to document that the six charged cops are not being afforded due process by Mosby? Seems to show the fix was in.
FOP has it up with exhibits at: http://www.fop3.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Motion-for-Dismissal-or-Recusal.pdf
Happy reading!
109 pages! Well, just forget my links… can’t really read them. 🙁 Sorry.
This is like the complaints about a 300+ page FCC law. It’s about 20 pages of “meat” including boiler plat and 80 pages of exhibits.
How about a change of venue?
Can we find someplace with a smidgen of sanity?
Not in any city that is run by the DemocRATs.
In Maryland? Good luck.
Hagerstown, maybe, or Germantown, or a jurisdiction in those areas would be more likely to supply an impartial jury.
I don’t know about anyone else that posts on this forum, but I am looking at a complete dismissal of all charges against the six police personal and filing of charges against Ms Mosby. Starting with false Imprisonment and perjury.
Al Sharpton should be charged with conspiracy to defraud and extortion in this case. Although they probably won’t stick, it would be fun to watch him squirm a bit.
We don’t know enough about what happened. HOW and WHEN did Gray sustain the spinal cord injury? Was it accidental or deliberately inflicted, and if the latter, by whom and when? Without these answers charges shouldn’t have been filed to begin with. It may be that one or more of the police officers did something they should reasonably have known might result in serious injury, or it may be that there was some susceptibility, previous damage or condition in Gray which made ordinary police treatment lethal. We don’t know the answers, and based on this hasty investigation I doubt Mosby knows either.
It was odd she made no mention of the facts or a theory of the case. Usually when a prosecutor announces charges at a presser, they outline the case. Nothing.
We’ll have to wait for the ME report, but I can’t see how they can tell from the body when the injury occurred and who was present.
Haven’t you noticed that facts don’t matter any more?
Facts are part of the old-school legal system; nowadays they don’t matter much, and neither do logic, reason, or common sense.
What matters is The Narrative.
Easy to find out what that is, just watch ABC/NBC/CBS/MSNBC/CNN, etc. Watch any of those stations; you’ll soon see that facts just get in the way, so they leave them out.
If she’s smart, she will secretly welcome this.
Of course.
This might be the last exit before prison for Mosby.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Really, Andrew? You think that’s in prospect here?
Legally? Sure. Defense motion is quit correct when it notes:
“If knife was illegal, there is claim for false imprisonment, arrest, and malicious prosecution against Mosby & staff, forfeited immunity.” (Abridged for Twitter post.)
Politically? Who knows. Is Mosby so burned the “establishment” is better off throwing her under the bus? I don’t know.
Hey, where’s former Mayor Nagin these days? 🙂
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Ray? He’s making up a BIG ol’ vat of hot chocolate for the breakfast crowd down at the Parchmen Farm. (Actually, that’s in Mississippi, but hey…)
So, yeah. Maybe if she dropped the charges REALLY quick, it might save her bacon…
But Baltimorons would make her pay.
I assume she covered herself by filing charges in addition to false arrest. If Angela Corey paid no personal price for charging Zimmerman with no actual probable cause, I suspect that Mosby will skate. After all, the judiciary is the most corrupt branch of government.
I would hope that the bus backs up and makes three or four runs at her.
I wish I could be a fly on the wall at the next police contract negotiations with the city.
@platypus
If this is all over by then and it turns out the way it should, those negotiations will be very short and probably very in favor of the PD. 🙂
Heh. Ray Nagin is six months into a ten-year sentence on bribery, corruption, and conspiracy convictions in the Federal prison in Texarkana. It’s a low-security facility with an adjunct camp that is minimum security. Ray isn’t much of a threat unless a guard leaves his watch on the desk.
The operative word being “IF.”
What’s with the dog?
He’s dead.
Question as I read the documents. Here in Arkansas we have the City Police (jurisdiction their city), County Sheriff (jurisdiction anywhere in the county), State Police (Jurisdiction anywhere in the state).
These cops worked for Baltimore Police Department, so who in the crap is the Baltimore Sheriffs department, or is the city of Baltimore so large that it is its own county?
The question “Who is the Baltimore Sheriff’s Department?” is a great one. I can’t find a link, but the interesting story is the six or seven retired members of the Sheriff Department who provide some sort of “investigation team” for the State Attorney’s office in Baltimore. Six are Black; one is white. Guess which officer personally signed Mosby’s charging documents? Just a coincidence? Then there is the former disgraced cop who is a top advisor to Mosby. (Sorry if some of this is not 100% correct, but the facts are out there.)
Found it, I think. Start at Brick #3 in article. It explains the “investigation team” Mosby is using.
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/05/04/marilyn-mosby-vs-the-baltimore-six-the-lies-the-agenda-the-case-for-recusal/
Brick #4 explains the Sheriff’s Administration. (It’s a good one)
Wow, talk about a GIANT waste of tax payer dollars.
It looks like the civil case referenced is that the officers have already filed a civil suit against the city, the Mayor, and Mrs. Mosby.
If that’s what is referenced, it’s a silly thing to include. They can’t sue her and then claim it creates a conflict. Think what that would mean to the system, which is clogged already.
That’s what I got from reading the motion, but I am by no means an expert.
No, there’s a separate civil case filed by other parties (but on similar grounds, her intimate ties to Murphy).
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Oh, cool. Makes more sense that way.
Once she is disbarred for malicious prosecution, that should get her off the case too.
How about the entire government of Baltimore recuse itself from governing for irredeemable conflicts of interests between actually governing and promoting rank ideology and ‘Social Justice’?
Remember what I said about her being a “self-basing lamb”. It may be she’s working on providing the mint sauce now.