Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby announced on Friday that she had filed murder, manslaughter, and assault charges against city police officers following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.
Gray died on April 19 after being injured while in police custody.
"The manner of death deemed a homicide by the Maryland state medical examiner is believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred while Mr. Gray was punrestrained by a seat belt in the custody of the Baltimore police department wagon," Mosby said at a morning news conference.
Cheers could be heard in the crowd when Mosby announced that "we have probable cause to file criminal charges."
She said that six officers would face charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault, and that a warrant had been issued for their arrest at about 9:30 a.m. Friday.
The charges carry 20 years for four of the officers, 30 for the police lieutenant in charge of the scene, and 60 for the officer driving the van, including second-degree murder charges. This is more than I could ever imagine being thrown at these bad cops, and no less than should be thrown at them.
Whether or not Mosby can prove her case? We'll see about that. But there will be a case.
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4 comments:
"Whether or not Mosby can prove her case?" I think you mean "Whether or not Mosby can get a jury to convict" or "Whether or not Mosby will actually have the motive or the means to make a good case."
This is good...but of course, not good enough for the DKossacks:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/30/1381507/-She-s-overseeing-Freddie-Gray-case-both-parents-grandfather-2-aunts-3-uncles-are-police-officers
Stupid wankers. These charges are severe, and you know she's doing something right if the Right and the police unions are crying foul. Let's give her a chance and a lot of support, because she will need it.
Jesus Christ, what a bunch of wankers.
Everything in me wants to say that the fix is in. I'll stop just short of that.
The hysterical ninnie makes his irresponsible charge in the typical passive aggressive "fuck off! I was just asking questions" manner that alienates every single normal person who happens to blunder in to that echo chamber. And it is always like that - anyone who suggests that maybe it's not actually true that aspartame makes you bleed out your eyeballs gets flayed alive as a Monsanto shill and a murdering torpedo for the toxic food additives industry.
While I don't approve of sacrificing worker bees to expiate the sins of the managing class, the evidence looks pretty solid on its face. Good to see that a lieutenant has been indicted, and I hope this sparks real pressure for reform.
Then we start many rungs up the ladder and go after some bankers, the real culprits in all this. If insane theories had not taken hold among our investor class some forty years ago, Baltimore - and plenty of other cities - would not be in the harsh conditions we see today.
If Mosby doesn't make a good case, she'll never hold public office again. The backlash from the folks who support the police, plus the community activists eager to see police held accountable for their crimes, will see to that.
Murder through the dictates of an abandoned and malignant heart would seem to cover the crime of putting an unresponsive man into the back of a police van and bouncing him around without knowing or caring how much he was being injured would seem an easy win. Plus, if the police van is a newer model vehicle, it might have an "event recorder" that would record sudden stops... making it easier to establish a "rough ride."
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