The jihad that Baltimore State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, has been waging against the Balitmore Police Department has come up short again.
In the wake of the death of small-time Baltimore crook, Freddie Gray, Mosby made the decision to burnish her personal reputation as a SJW by charging six Baltimore police officers in his death.
The first of these trials, against an officer named William Porter, resulted in a hung jury. The second trial, that of Officer Edward Nero, ended today when a judge found him not guilty. Nero had elected to be tried by a judge rather than take the risk on a Baltimore City jury.
The prosecution of Nero is a metaphor for what makes the trials of all the cops involved seem like a Stalinist show trial.
Nero was accused in connection with the initial arrest — prosecutors say there was no probable cause — and with later failing to properly secure Gray in a police van. Nero’s lawyers claim he had little to do with the arrest and it was the responsibility of the officers in the van to buckle Gray.
This is not even descriptive enough. Nero simply joined in the pursuit of Gray after the officer trying to make the request reported Gray was running. And testimony at the trial showed that Nero had nothing to do with putting Gray in the police van. In short, Nero was tried for being at the scene of the Freddie Gray fiasco and acting as he was required to act.
None of this is to say that Officer Nero’s problems are over. It seems like Baltimore is still going to try to fire him:
T.J. Smith, Baltimore Police Department spokesman: “Although the criminal case against Officer Edward Nero has come to a close, the internal investigation has not. With that, Officer Nero’s status will remain unchanged. He will remain in an administrative capacity while this investigation continues.
“The internal investigation is being handled by other police departments. The internal investigation will not be completed until all of the criminal cases against the other five officers are completed because they likely will be witnesses in each case.”
I am not a huge fan of they way law enforcement often sees itself as an occupying army and treats citizens as something between a nuisance and the enemy. But in the case of the Freddie Gray prosecutions, it is pretty clear that Mosby issued indictments to curry favor with the mob, not to further the cause of justice. Rather she has created a situation where officers are deterred from doing their best in neighborhoods that are under siege by gangs and drug dealers for fear of being prosecuted themselves.
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