If they can’t figure it out, how is an avaerage citizen supposed to know?
if the switchblade fits.... you must acquits
This issue will get picked to death for a few years before any trial.
Press a button, it’s a switchblade. Otherwise it is spring assisted.
It was legal, and any law or local code that says otherwise is unconstitutional.
Cities should not be able to pass more restrictive weapons laws than the state’s laws. It’s absurd that I can legally carry a knife in Annapolis or other areas and then it’s a crime if I carry it to Baltimore.
However, it’s equally absurd to accuse the police of murder and kidnapping if the arrest was valid in accordance with the (silly) laws they are supposed to be enforcing.
All that matters is whether the arresting officers reasonably believed it was an illegal weapon under the statute cited for the arrest.
Here are some questions that might help the DA sort this out.
Has anyone else been arrested in, say, the last six years, for carrying a similar “spring assisted” knife in Baltimore? If so, what did the DA do with those charges? What about someone on probation or parole? Did the DA office pursue a revocation hearing?
If the DA dismissed all those charges, did they tell the police department why?
It is not up to the police to determine if the knife was illegal or not. That is up to a jury. The law seems poorly written, though, and gives police broad powers to arrest you if you have a spring assist knife.
People who believe the Baltimore City code is unconstitutional are missing two points.
The first is, the question is not whether this is a good law. It may very well be a bad law. The question is whether the police violated the law by effecting an arrest based on this law. It is difficult to argue that they did so commit a crime by enforcing this law, even if it is a bad law.
The second question is not whether people have a right to arms generally, but whether the courts have a right to prevent convicted felons from carrying weapons. Thus, was it illegal for Mr. Gray to carry any weapon, whether otherwise permitted by law or not? For many parties, that is at least an open question, and police acting upon such authority cannot be subject to prosecution for enforcement of such restrictions.
The fundamental basis of the initial criminal charges - false arrest and imprisonment - is vitiated. It is difficult to bootstrap the rest of the case without that missing premise.
She did not say anything about the City of Baltimore.
The police she defamed work for and have jurisdiction in the City of Baltimore.
She also works for the City of Baltimore.
She should be arrested.
OK say for the sake of argument that Freddie Gray was not killed but instead got hauled in to jail intact. Does anyone really think that the police would have held him on th weapons charge much less prosecuted him?