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
Attorney Andrew Branca and his firm Law of Self Defense have been providing internationally-recognized expertise in American self-defense law for almost 20 years in the form of books, live seminars & online training (both accredited for CLE), public speaking engagements, and individualized legal consultation.
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