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Baltimore prosecutor has deep Dorchester roots
By adamg on Fri, 05/01/2015 - 5:38pm
The Globe reports Marilyn Mosby, who brought charges today against six Baltimore police officers, herself comes from a family with a long tradition of serving in the Boston Police Department - and first got interested in the justice system when her 17-year-old cousin was shot to death in Dorchester.
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Comments
Reportedly she also
Has direct ties to the Gray family. But unlike the Obama Admin and the media I'll wait until I see/hear the whole story.
Links?
Could you share where you got that information?
Perhaps this is one way that the good apples will take care of the bad apples: raise lawyer children.
Not the family, the family's lawyer
Who donated money to the city attorney's campaign.
Conspiracy!!!!!11
A lawyer who works to defend victims of police brutality, and he donated to a candidate who promised to crack down on police brutality? WAKE UP, SHEEPLE
What's the conspiracy?
What's the conspiracy, that an attorney contributed to a campaign fund for a state's attorney candidate who ran on holding all people accountable to the law, including law enforcement? I don't think anyone has suggested there's insufficient evidence to charge the Baltimore six, one with second degree murder. Mosley smashed a hornets nest and the people of Baltimore are glad to learn her campaign rhetoric about accountability wasn't empty.
Satire, methinks
"sheeple" is usually ironic around here, thank God.
who killed freddie gray?
Marilyn Mosby worked in the Suffolk DA's Homicide Unit and in the US Attorney's office before she ran for state's attorney in Baltimore. She deserves credit for investigating the homicide of Freddie Gray with all deleberate speed, and making a case she thinks the state can win in a court of law.
Impressive
Marilyn Mosby is impressive for sure. However, unless I'm missing something about Maryland law, any convictions or acquittals that result will lie only at her feet given her decision to file charges and bypass the grand jury. Prosecutors can think they have more evidence than they do - that's the point of grand juries and why they are part of the Fifth Amendment. Risky move.
ham sandwich
slate:
In the aftermath of a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, commentators have noted that such an outcome is quite rare. "A grand jury could 'indict a ham sandwich,' but apparently not a white police officer," wrote the U.K.'s Independent. "If a jury can indict a ham sandwich, why is it taking so long?" asked Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson. Where did that delicious, evocative phrase come from?
As Barry Popik explains, Sol Wachtler, the former chief judge of New York state, coined the term in a January 1985 interview with the New York Daily News' Marcia Kramer and Frank Lombardi. The relevant bit:
Could be kicking the can down the road, too
The DoJ concluded that Wilson was justified in his actions, so if the St. Louis County grand jury indicted him, there would have been a strong possibility that he would have walked after the trial. In that very polarizing case, the grand jury did their job.
I don't know how this thing will work out. I wasn't there (obviously.) I guess when the body of evidence comes out either we will all see, or sadly we will all have our biases confirmed by keying in on some evidence while ignoring other evidence. My hope is that this ends with justice, though how justice will play out is another story.
Not exactly
The DOJ decided that there was not a sufficient basis for federal charges, which had stricter requirements (for example, the type of specific intent needed) that would not have been relevant to any state charges for manslaughter (or whatever).
Charges might have been harder
But the report does discuss physical evidence and the quality of the witnesses. For instance, one witness claims there were 3 police officers, another says that 15 minutes later there were no cops at the scene when there is video of police responding within minutes.
As far as the "ham sandwich goes" Wilson probably could have been indicted, but a conviction would have been tough. This case is reminding me of the Trayvon Martin case in that there was a rush to arrest, a rush to charge, but in the end it was, in my non-lawyer mind, a 50/50 case.
I'm keeping an open mind on this case. I mean, the guy was okay (a bit injured, to be sure) when he was put in the prisoner transport, but when he got to the station he was comatose. Something happened, and it does not look good for at least the officers transporting him. That said, these arrests seem to be more to appease the mob than to make sure justice is served.
let's not
Mike Brown was unarmed and accused of jaywalking while black by a police officer who drove by him, backed up and cut him off and told him to get out of the road. Mike can't tell his side of the story but from what we know about their interaction through Officers Wilson's driver's side window, the officer's story justifies use of lethal force-- He says Mike struck him and reached for his gun. Stepping back, the officer precipitated a confrontation with his vehicle. He did not deescalate. this is bad policing. Mike allegedly engaged and the officer fired a shot (used lethal force) through the window at Mike Brown in self-defense.
Then Mike Brown fled and told his friend to keep running. The officer got out of his car and empty the rest of his clip at a man who was no threat to him because he was running away. These shots were not taken in self defense nor does Missouri law allow lethal force used on an unarmed suspect fleeing from an alleged crime. IMO, shooting at a fleeing suspect is probable cause of a crime, and Officer WIlson does not disagree with the fact he did exactly that.
The officer says Mike Brown turned around and reached for his waste band. I never understood why, if Mike Brown had a weapon, he didn't he use it instead of reaching for the officer's weapon through the patrol car window. Did officer Brown need a new justification to shoot Mike Brown at the point when he turned around, having run over a hundred feet from Officer WIlson's SUV?
Mike Brown was killed because he didn't restrain himself from a cop who was being a dick but don't think the officer is not responsible for Mike's death. He was, he killed Mike Brown. And a grand jury found no probable cause of a crime. The whole thing started because of jaywalking. You don't think someone should be held accountable for the death of the unarmed man?
Trayvon Martin's killer was not charged. The state's attorney said they would not charge. It took the governor appointing a special prosecutor. That should tell you that even the governor thought justice meant finding probable cause of a crime. Trayvon was unarmed. The guy stalking him had a gun. Once again the victim was dead and could not tell his side of the story.
When a person dies in police custody, at the very least, the police did not do their duty to protect the life of the person in their custody. The charges against the Baltimore police indicate the murder was the result of depraved indifference to Freddie Gray's well being. I don't know if they can make the case. I do know Baltimore has a state's attorney who wants to hold the police accountable to the same laws everyone else must abide.
I'm kind of surprised intelligent people are so willing to consider homicide of people suspected of a crime by the police, and in police custody, as a cost of a rigorous justice system and not an abuse of it.
Think of it this way, a person was killed, we think we know how it happened, and we have probable cause to think it was was an illegal taking of a life and we have sufficient evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Should we prosecute?
Gotta like this woman
Talk about sprinting out of the gate.
Right after she takes office, she's faced with a case where a local cyclist (who was also a framebuilder) was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Making things interesting is that the driver was an Episcopalian bishop. And, she was drunk.
There has been a lot of pressure in this case, needless to say - exalted bishop vs. lowly cyclist. Plus, lots of attention outside the MD area.
Mosby charged the driver with manslaughter. It may seem obvious tbat she should be charged, but it doesn't happen as often as it should.
Here is one of many stories.
Good luck Ms. Mosby.