What I don’t get is what possible justification she has for her public accusations without a constitutionally required grand jury indictment.
Any legal types here?
Has Mosby willfully used her office to intentionally violate their constitutionally protected rights?
She has a lot more problems than that. The officers were charged and then arraigned. Which means they were arrested, processed by central booking and had their first appearance in court where they were read the charges and bail was set.
Her first hurdle is going to be the preliminary hearing. She will, at that point, have to prove PROBABLE CAUSE that there is sufficient evidence to justify the charges. The defense has a right to ask for a hearing where they can question the prosecution’s witnesses. This is NOT a trial where the prosecutor has to show quilt beyond a “reasonable doubt”. Just a hearing to show there is probable cause to believe the defendants did what the prosecutor alleges.
In all likelihood, the defense will waive the hearing and consent to a Grand Jury. The prosecutor will then have to present to a Grand Jury, which could hand down an indictment or issue a “no bill” which means the prosecutor didn’t “prove” his case to the Grand Jury. Since she overcharged originally, she may have a tough time getting the indictment on the more serious charges. The Grand Jury may kick the murder and involuntary manslaughter charges because she doesn’t have the evidence.
That would leave her with the misdemeanor charges which the Grand Jury wouldn’t hear. She could proceed with those directly and when the sh$t hits the fan in Baltimore, blame the Grand Jury for not issuing an indictment.
She has a scapegoat.
I think she could have problems getting past the preliminary hearing depending on the Judge.
Most good defense attorneys will waive preliminary as they don’t want to have the prosecutor lay out some of the more damning facts and taint the jury pool.
Should be a very interesting trial.