As mentioned prior.....is this going to be a seat belt issue when it comes down to the wire?
Seems most folks think so, although if they can some how prove the paddy wagon driver was trying to give a ‘rough ride’ on purpose its going to be worse. But I dont know how you can go about proving that.
I don't think so. When it comes down to the wire, I think this is going to be a "course of conduct" type case, which are often the most difficult to win for a prosecutor. In other words, from where I'm sitting (and take this with a grain of salt, as I'm neither a prosecutor nor familiar with MD law), I would think that the prosecution is not going to argue that any single act of the police officers was an act of murder/manslaughter/etc., but rather that, taken a a whole, their whole course of conduct--from unlawfully arresting him, to placing him in the van in restraints and without a seatbelt to repeatedly refusing his requests for medical attention, to placing him back in the van in restraints, on his stomach, without a seatbelt, etc.--constitutes murder/manslaughter/etc under MD law.
The only exception to that (based on the timeline as presented by the DA) is the last stop in the van, when the officers saw that he was not responsive, and proceeded to take him to the precinct instead of summoning medical assistance (or taking him directly to the hospital). I could see the prosecution arguing that the officers' failure to summon medical attention at that particular time was a criminal act.