By Matthew Vadum ——Bio and Archives--May 29, 2015
Guns-Crime-Terror-Security | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
Based on the relative size and characteristics of Baltimore City, the prejudicial information that has penetrated every form of online, printed and broadcast media, and the short time between the alleged crimes and the trial(s), the presumption of prejudice prevents the Officers in this case from receiving fair trials.According to the Sun:
The attorneys also argued that statements by public officials about rooting out police brutality “blurred the line” between an issue affecting the entire Police Department and the six defendants. “The negative and hostile implications toward the department have become inseparably enmeshed with those against the Defendants,” they said.Former judge and Fox News Channel commentator Andrew Napolitano told anchor Megyn Kelly that the cops’ lawyers have it right. “The civil unrest that occurred makes it unlikely the police officers could get a fair trial in the city of Baltimore, even if Mother Teresa were the prosecutor.” he said. “But instead you have a prosecutor who acts and sounds like she’s a political candidate for office.” Napolitano was referring to Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby (D). She’s the grandstanding prosecutor who in the Freddie Gray saga has invoked the phrase “no justice, no peace,” the battle cry of leftist rabble and racial arsonists hellbent on destruction that Americans became familiar with during the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has accused Mosby of “overcharging” the police officers to placate the rioters. Charging a defendant with an excessively serious crime makes it more likely the jury will acquit and when that happens there will be more riots, he said. “It is clear there has to be a change of venue, meaning the trial has to be tried in another part of the state of Maryland and the jurors have to be drawn from that other part of the state,” Napolitano said. “The question is: can she fairly administer justice?” Kelly added, “If it gets moved to another county, she is still the prosecutor, but she appears to be a problem. I mean, schooled and learned lawyers … are coming out using the word ‘disbarment’ for this type of behavior when it comes to a D.A.” Unlike many talking heads, Kelly knows what she’s talking about. Before entering the world of TV news, Kelly practiced law for nine years at white-shoe law firm Jones Day in Washington, D.C., and was an associate at Bickel & Brewer LLP in Chicago. She was also editor of her law school’s law review. The defense lawyers for the police officers also point out that there is a movement afoot to register young males to vote “so they can get on the jury to convict the officers.” “It will be impossible to ferret out the bias and resentment of those prospective jury members who choose to hide their deeply held prejudices to get onto the jury,” they argued. It is unclear who started this movement in Baltimore to pack juries. A month ago black commentator Roland Martin of TV One proposed stuffing juries with activists in order to guarantee that police officers are exposed to the wrath of the lynch mob. “You can’t try a police officer on a jury if you’re not registered to vote,” he said. Martin urged pastors to encourage their African-American flocks to register to vote so they could get into jury pools. “But not just that, but you have to actually vote and once you vote for somebody you have to hold them accountable as well,” he said. Whatever eventually happens to the accused police officers in court, Baltimore’s future looks bleak. It is difficult to estimate how much the city will miss out on in terms of forgone future taxes and overall economic impact. Investors are unlikely to flock to Baltimore given that its government refuses to protect private property, one of its most basic obligations. And U.S. taxpayers are going to be stuck with the bill for the mayor’s bad behavior and the crime wave it helped to exacerbate. The city is applying for federal aid to cover expenses incurred in the riots that Rawlings-Blake encouraged. City officials say they want $20 million in direct costs to cover expenses such as equipment purchases, for example, tear gas and riot gear, and for street cleaning. But that’s just the beginning of what local, state, and federal taxpayers will pay for Rawlings-Blake’s appalling malfeasance and fiscal blame-shifting. The mayor is urging the more than 380 businesses damaged during the riots to seek loans and grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Baltimore Development Corp., a public-private agency that promotes business development by issuing tax credits and offering debt instruments for sale to investors. Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan (R), is also seeking reimbursement for the state’s costs related to the riots. Of course, unlike Rawlings-Blake, who is the best friend a looter could ever have, Hogan did not make things worse by colluding with rioters and criminal gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, and Black Guerrilla Army. The governor did both his own job and the mayor’s job, restoring order to the city by activating the Maryland National Guard. Now if only Gov. Hogan could dissolve the Baltimore City government for failing to perform even the most rudimentary of governmental functions and impose a state-run control board on the city. Maybe then Baltimore might actually have a chance of bouncing back.
View Comments
Matthew Vadum, matthewvadum.blogspot.com, is an investigative reporter.
His new book Subversion Inc. can be bought at Amazon.com (US), Amazon.ca (Canada)
Visit the Subversion Inc. Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter.