Posted on 05/02/2015 9:09:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Mediaite founder and ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams was on Good Morning America Saturday to weigh in on the charges brought against six Baltimore police officers by Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby in the death of Freddie Gray. Asked if he thinks the charges will “stick,” Abrams said he had his doubts.
“I think some of the lesser convictions will likely stick in certain cases, but I think most of the more serious charges, it’s going to be really tough to get convictions on a lot of these charges,” he said. “I think it is fair to say that this prosecutor, as a legal matter, has overreached.”
Abrams explained that two of the officers charged with manslaughter only came on the scene later and perhaps did not do enough to save Gray’s life. “That may be wrong,” he said, “but getting a jury to convict them of manslaughter for simply not helping enough is going to be very, very tough. And I think that once this case moves along, you’re going to see either the charges reduced or in the end a jury simply not convicting on the more serious charges.”
On the “conflicts of interest” issue raised over Mosby’s ties to one of the Gray family’s attorneys, Abrams said he doesn’t think there is a “serious claim” there for her to recuse herself. “But the rush to judgment is going to be at the heart of the defense,” he added, “that not enough time was taken to allow the prosecutor to fairly and objectively evaluate the evidence.”
“I think there are going to be some very powerful defenses here,” Abrams predicted.
Watch video below, via ABC:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The narrative is beginning to be redundant. Prosecution makes a quick move because of political pressure, leading to hung jury, grand jury dismissal or acquittal, leading to more riot.
She did not overreach. She didnt reach far enough. The police will survive as a state entity.
Undoubtedly I will get major flak for saying this.
She’s doing exactly what her office and the police do to ordinary citizens every day.
Overcharging, adding counts that are ancillary, charging everyone in the vicinity who is even peripherally associated with an event.
Every day they do that. Only difference is that this time it’s being done to the police themselves.
Funny how they wail so loudly now that it’s being done to them.
Go ahead. Flame away. But just remember: when you do something to someone else, there’s always the chance it will end up coming back on you.
You are exactly right
...which is the problem.
My perception is that the MOB got the charges filed—not the evidence.
I would not be surprised if “deals” are struck with some of these cops...to turn on each other.
I hope they stick together.
Of course, if there was criminal behavior on the part of the cops, then it should be prosecuted. The rush to judgement on the media and the mob, though, is not good.
And suddenly the Washington Post story is considered BS? Ha.
The witness is now KNOWN by the Baltimore MOB...he is trying to save his rear end, that much is clear.
How could the drive be guilty of murder — when Gray was the one hurling himself into the sides of police van?
Negligence maybe, but hardly murder.
Hmm. You make me think. I really do not want to applaud bad cops—they should be prosecuted. At the same time, I do not want to reward the mobs destroying personal property.
Of course, the argument COULD be made that the only reason the cops were overcharged was because of the riots.
Do you agree with that?
That does indeed occur on an all too frequent basis...and can actually allow people who should be in fact be convicted to get off because while they were guilty of a crime, it wasn’t the worse crime they were charged with.
However, the circumstances here as to why charges were brought when they were brought and why are altogether difference, so I’m not sure what your point is in this context.
He doesn’t have a point. He just wants to slam cops. Even cops that might be innocent.
Ordinarily I would jump down on anyone’s throat that dismisses the incredibly tough job the police undertakes in keeping their citizens and streets safe.
BUT I agree with you on this point.
[This is where readers have to comprehend that Mrs. Mosby is playing a dangerous political game. The officers have not been indicted, nor has a Grand Jury delivered a finding to substantiate an indictment. Mrs. Mosby is simply filing a direct action PCA(Probable Cause Affidavit) to support an arrest.
What she needed was an arrest, just an arrest, the direct PCA is a tool to achieve that goal.
The arrest is based on a direct action probable cause filing. After the arrest the SA then has 30 days to bring an actual indictment, or she can change/drop the charges. Within the 30 days she has to take this to a Grand Jury to create the indictment.
Most likely the actual indictment charges, if any, will be far different on an indictment sheet (if at all) than the PCA claims she is basing the arrest upon. Meaning, with almost virtual certainty, what’s going on now is pure theatrics.]
“She’s doing exactly what her office and the police do to ordinary citizens every day....Overcharging...”
That is ABSOLUTELY true.
Actually the point is quite obvious. People in the government abuse the system for their own reasons all the time. It's just that usually they do it at the expense of the people they allegedly work for.
He just wants to slam cops
That's odd. I believe it's quite obvious that I included the Prosecutors office in this. Do you equate the two? If so, you really have no idea how the system works.
Even cops that might be innocent
People are charged every day by overzealous prosecutors and the excuse is that they may be innocent, but that's for a jury to determine.
Perhaps you don't agree? You feel that the Prosecutors office in conjunction with the police department should be in charge of the determination of guilt?
If that's the case, perhaps you're one of those people who believes the State is all powerful, above reproach, and is infallible. If they were arrested, why they have to be guilty, right?
But you only seem to believe that should work in one direction.
You think what Mosby did is an injustice to the cops?
Could be. But uh...isn't that for the jury to decide?
#4 The past mayor and future gov Martin O’Malley (Democrat) had 100,000 arrests in Baltimore out of 640,000 people. More than 20,000 people were released without being charged by prosecutors. It looks like the people in charge of the city arrest people for anything. This would be a future police state if you elect democrats.
Excerpt from an article:
In 2005, the Police Department made more than 100,000 arrests in a city of 640,000 people. The following year, the NAACP and the ACLU sued the city on behalf of 14 people, alleging that their arrests indicated a broad pattern of abuse in which thousands of people were routinely arrested without probable cause.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-omalley-speech-facts-20150418-story.html#page=2
Open the John Doe Investigations
Since Mr. Chisholm sent police to invade people's homes in search of political grist for him to mill, do you think the people were guilty? I mean after all, they were accused and the police went in! In your mind, that means they gotta be Bad, right?
Evil Republicans as Mrs. Chisholm believes, just trying to end the careers of Noble Public Servants in the School System...who happen to have a powerful Union that makes sure to suck the cash out of the populace, which Walker wanted to end.
So uh...tell me again how the cops and the prosecutors are infallible?
Personally I think it should be conspiracy to commit and accomplish murder one after the fact of an accidentally broken neck during the arrest.
But I also think not one of these cops will be convicted of anything at all, and the legal procedures necessary to achieve that goal are already well underway.
Cops don’t go down in America unless other cops turn on them. Otherwise, fuggedaboudit. And it doesn’t matter in the least what they do.
That's similar to the argument I've heard from black "leaders" that because of what they've done in the past to black people, evil whitey deserves what he gets now at the hands of black thugs.
Both arguments are specious. If these cops are guilty, then they should be found guilty and punished. But we try to preserve the semblance of law and not predetermine guilt or innocence.
Yeah. O’Malley was trying to channel Giuliani’s success in New York with “broken window” enforcement...no crime too small.
He rode that to being governor. But like all excesses, it has its downside: some day you gonna go over the top, not come back to Earth so lightly.
The cops end up becoming an occupying force with orders to body slam everyone for anything. The prosecutors become fiction writers as they fabricate charge after charge on the thinnest of legal theories.
And everyone caught in the cross fire just leave. So the only people left are the two warring parties: the small time criminals and their antagonists the cops.
Bet downtown Baltimore is a ghost town at night after the productive class escapes to the burbs.
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