It doesn’t really matter how long his rap sheet was. Being taken into police custody on accusation of a crime (or for any other reason) is not supposed to impose a death sentence without due process of law.
If black folks (or the citizenry of Baltimore) have concluded as a result that the social contract has been voided and that they exist in a state of nature (see Hobbes on what the state of nature is like) vis-a-vis the rest of society, I cannot fault them all that much for their actions.
On the the other hand, neither can I fault shop-owners for shooting looters, any action of self-defense taken against them, or a heavy-handed police and National Guard response to rioting and looting. If it’s going to be the war of all against all, everyone else gets to fight back with all means available.
There is a difference between accidental and intentional homicide. I have no idea what actually happened here, but saying they imposed a death sentence implies they intentionally killed him.
I am against the so called thug culture and I thank god I have no thugs in my family, but intelligent folks who were in the service, however regardless of who this man was, it does not justify any death sentence while in custody unless a situation happens where an officer has to fight for his life. When this whole thing is said and done there needs to be an investigation into what happened, and I do have to say some police actions elsewhere in states like Indiana, and Tennessee where you have some innocent folks on the recieving end of no-knock warrant swat raids have me asking some questions to be fair.