Some non‐legal thoughts about Baltimore and the officers

Let me leave all of the legal analysis to our more qualified contributors.   

I did find it interesting to read complaints that Ms. Mosby did not go to a grand jury or rush to the microphone.  

And take a look at John Banzhaf, professor of public interest law at George Washington University, who believes that the officers were overcharged:

"I think it is very difficult to pin responsibility on one person when you have four or five or six each doing a variety of things — or not doing a variety of things — which in some generalized way contributes to the overall outcome."
"Again, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that each of the individuals — Officer X, Officer Y, Officer Z — what he did or didn't do was a direct cause of what happened," Banzhaf said.

Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke is not happy, either.  He calls it "Duke Lacrosse case all over again." 

Am I the only one who thinks that defense attorneys will have an easy time defending these officers?

Let me share my reaction to the charges and the parties involved.

First, it is difficult to convict police officers unless you have a very strong case.  Juries are very fair to police officers.  One big reason is that they live in the real world, especially in a dysfunctional environment like Baltimore, where people like Freddie Gray are selling drugs and terrorizing innocent citizens.   

In other words, City Attorney Mosby and the mayor may find that the jury is going to show a lot more love for the officers than for Mr. Gray.   

Second, it may have been wiser for Baltimore to have a named an independent prosecutor and told him to write a report about the incident and any lack of discipline from the police officers.  

The net result of such a report would have been charges of serious negligence and recommendations that Mr. Gray's civil rights were violated.

I don't know how this will end.  At the same time, I hope that Baltimore's politicians are ready for the very real possibility that a jury may come back with an acquittal.   

"No justice, no peace" sounds great in front of angry mobs.  It does not work so well when a jury is looking at evidence.

P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.

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