Posted on 05/01/2015 10:49:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Charges filed against the six Baltimore police officers for their involvement in the death of Freddie Grey will be dismissed, a George Washington University law professor predicted in an interview with The Daily Caller.
John Banzhaf, who teaches public interest law, says that the charges announced by Baltimore states attorney Marilyn Mosby on Friday go too far.
I think a prosecutor is going to have a hard time proving that the actions did in fact cause death, since they seem to have no theory as to how it occurred, Banzhaf said in a phone interview.
Gray was arrested on April 12 after a foot chase with police. He was transported in a police van to a processing center, where he was found unresponsive. He was then taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery.
His death on April 19 touched off massive protests across the nation, as well as rioting and looting in Baltimore.
Mosby said Friday that Grays arrest was illegal and that officers failed to provide him with medical assistance, even though he asked for it numerous times. A medical examiner ruled Grays death a homicide and determined that he suffered a broken neck and sustained a wound on the back of his head consistent with hitting it on a bolt on the van door.
The driver of the police van faces the toughest charges. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. was charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter, assault and misconduct. Three other officers face voluntary or involuntary manslaughter charges. The other two face assault and misconduct charges.
But Banzhaf, who is most famous for his successful campaign to get smoking ads removed from TV, says that Mosby will have to show how each of the six charged officers directly contributed to Grays death.
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 didnt do was a direct cause of what happened, Banzhaf said.
Baltimore police policy dictates that arrestees placed in a police van must be restrained with a seat belt. However, the president of Baltimores Fraternal Order of Police has argued that the policy went into effect just days before Grays arrest. He also said that the new policy was not being properly communicated to beat officers.
Banzhaf says that even if Grays arrest was illegal, as Mosby asserts, the chain of legal causation appears to have been broken. Thus, the officers who arrested Gray should not face many of the charges they are accused of committing.
He presented a scenario in which an officer is charged in the death of an inmate who was falsely arrested and then beaten to death in jail. He said that opening the door to that type of charge creates a slippery slope.
As for accusations that the officers were negligent in failing to provide medical care to Gray even after he asked for it, Banzhaf said that the defendants would likely bring experts who will testify that prisoners often make false claims about injuries.
I think the cops will be able to find lots of experts who will say this is pretty well standard,' Banzhaf said. The officers defense experts would likely argue that lots of people who are arrested start screaming that they are in pain, they cant breath, they are hurt and so on. They do it to get leniency, or to get cuffs removed, and they also do it so that they set up claims stating that they were mishandled by police.
Banzhaf also said he believes Mosby overcharged the officers.
To be fair, many prosecutors do overcharge, he said.
He said that overcharging would be particularly effective in a case with multiple defendants. By overcharging, one defendant is more likely to open up about the actions of a co-defendant.
But given Mosbys flimsy case, Banzhaf says that those who are happy with Fridays announcement may be disappointed if a judge throws the case out.
The people who are cheering saying how wonderful this because they support Mr. Gray may be very sadly disappointed when a judge looks at this and says, Well, Ms. Mosby, you just cant come in here and say at some point somebody did something and we believe this caused his death.
You have to tell me when it happened, Banzhaf said.
He said that besides Mosby overcharging as a prosecutorial strategy, she also may have done so because of public pressure.
I think any prosecutor in her position would recognize that Baltimore is a tinderbox and that if something decisive wasnt done now, it would likely lead to more riots and more problems, Banzhaf said.
So, better to do something now and appear to be decisive, he said.
In the interview at the link I supplied prior, listening now I just heard the witness Moore say
hard to tell from the video. The screaming could be due in part to the narcotics he was on or maybe he was abused. I don’t know.
I also don’t know what the answer is to getting 1.2 million law enforcement officers across the country, who are mostly at that volatile age for guys to begin with, to act correctly day in and out while their senses are pulverized by seeing the worst of society ever day.
Agreed.
I don't either...but I'm pretty certain that increased militarization, and sense of us vs. them will not help.
Overcharging has as much to do with politics as does ego. I sat on a jury trying what the prosecutor charged was murder. Man charged with killing his wife. No witnesses, only neighbor who heard fighting; conflicting testimony of coroner and assistant; only they both had a history of violence.
Charged with murder; convicted of manslaughter. Later on, I spoke with arresting officer. He said that police had recommended manslaughter but prosecutor wanted a murder trial. Also, the man’s prior conviction for killing his first wife, which we were not allowed to know.
I hate to break it to you but heroin doesn’t craze you
It makes you happy and sleepy
Meth or crack
That crazes you
If he were loaded on H he’d be less likely to do anything but chill and drool.
I think the charges were palliative to the turmoil
Considering the only evidence is they neglected to give prompt medical attention which frankly is fairly common in jail I doubt they have even manslaughter
This is to soothe then they will or should roll it back
You’re spot on!
Agreed. Perhaps teaching policing as a career staring in maybe Junior year of high school instead of six month program after high school could help.
You could enroll minority kids at 17, when more will not have crimes that prevent them from being cops on their record and maybe give the a career path. Just an idea. I could be wrong.
Actually they do. All you need to have your spine sever itself is to deliberately throw your head into a big bolt on the door of a prisoner van while trying to make it look like the police beat you before you were put in there.
Try it. See if I'm right.
Nifong redux.......
Yeah, she should get the Nifong Award for pandering for votes.
Manslaughter, negligent homicide, unprofessional conduct - maybe.
99% of the time John Banzhaf is an obnoxious liberal pr*ck, so for him to torpedo the Baltimogadishu indictments right out of the box is interesting, to say the least.
Alan Dershowitz & Laurence Tribe, please take a number.
Dis be’s written by Al Sharpton!
My friend’s husband, who was elderly, was sitting outside in a lawn chair, a little distance from his back door. Rather than yell for his wife to help him in the house, he leaned toward the door - misjudging it’s distance, and fell against it - and broke his neck. I think Freddy Gray may have broken his own neck by jerking and throwing himself around. I’ll wait for the facts to be made known, but, just wanted to share this.
So the black guy gets the second degree murder charge. Dat be racist in itself.... Will the protesters find his house and burn it down.... He must be a white African-Merican
I hate to break it to you but heroin can make you crazy. Depending on the amount and the tolerance of the individual, any drug can do anything. Alcohol is a depressant as well. It always makes everyone happy and sleepy, never crazed, right?
I am crying thinking about what that poor innocent yute went through... /s
That is why it will end up in a MD state capital court room, away from Baltimore.
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