Posted on 05/01/2015 10:49:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Charges filed against the six Baltimore police officers for their involvement in the death of Freddie Grey will be dismissed, a George Washington University law professor predicted in an interview with The Daily Caller.
John Banzhaf, who teaches public interest law, says that the charges announced by Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby on Friday “go too far.”
“I think a prosecutor is going to have a hard time proving that the actions did in fact cause death, since they seem to have no theory as to how it occurred,” Banzhaf said in a phone interview.
Gray was arrested on April 12 after a foot chase with police. He was transported in a police van to a processing center, where he was found unresponsive. He was then taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery.
His death on April 19 touched off massive protests across the nation, as well as rioting and looting in Baltimore.
Mosby said Friday that Gray’s arrest was illegal and that officers failed to provide him with medical assistance, even though he asked for it numerous times. A medical examiner ruled Gray’s death a homicide and determined that he suffered a broken neck and sustained a wound on the back of his head consistent with hitting it on a bolt on the van door.
The driver of the police van faces the toughest charges. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. was charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter, assault and misconduct. Three other officers face voluntary or involuntary manslaughter charges. The other two face assault and misconduct charges.
But Banzhaf, who is most famous for his successful campaign to get smoking ads removed from TV, says that Mosby will have to show how each of the six charged officers directly contributed to Gray’s death.
“I think it is very difficult to pin responsibility on one person when you have four or five or six each doing a variety of things — or not doing a variety of things — which in some generalized way contributes to the overall outcome.”
“Again, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that each of the individuals — Officer X, Officer Y, Officer Z — what he did or didn’t do was a direct cause of what happened,” Banzhaf said.
Baltimore police policy dictates that arrestees placed in a police van must be restrained with a seat belt. However, the president of Baltimore’s Fraternal Order of Police has argued that the policy went into effect just days before Gray’s arrest. He also said that the new policy was not being properly communicated to beat officers.
Banzhaf says that even if Gray’s arrest was illegal, as Mosby asserts, the “chain of legal causation” appears to have been broken. Thus, the officers who arrested Gray should not face many of the charges they are accused of committing.
He presented a scenario in which an officer is charged in the death of an inmate who was falsely arrested and then beaten to death in jail. He said that opening the door to that type of charge creates a slippery slope.
As for accusations that the officers were negligent in failing to provide medical care to Gray even after he asked for it, Banzhaf said that the defendants would likely bring experts who will testify that prisoners often make false claims about injuries.
“I think the cops will be able to find lots of experts who will say ‘this is pretty well standard,'” Banzhaf said. The officers’ defense experts would likely argue that “lots of people who are arrested start screaming that they are in pain, they can’t breath, they are hurt and so on. They do it to get leniency, or to get cuffs removed, and they also do it so that they set up claims stating that they were mishandled by police.”
Banzhaf also said he believes Mosby overcharged the officers.
“To be fair, many prosecutors … do overcharge,” he said.
He said that overcharging would be particularly effective in a case with multiple defendants. By overcharging, one defendant is more likely to open up about the actions of a co-defendant.
But given Mosby’s flimsy case, Banzhaf says that those who are happy with Friday’s announcement may be disappointed if a judge throws the case out.
“The people who are cheering saying how wonderful this because they support Mr. Gray may be very sadly disappointed when a judge looks at this and says, ‘Well, Ms. Mosby, you just can’t come in here and say ‘at some point somebody did something and we believe this caused his death.””
“You have to tell me when it happened,” Banzhaf said.
He said that besides Mosby overcharging as a prosecutorial strategy, she also may have done so because of public pressure.
“I think any prosecutor in her position would recognize that Baltimore is a tinderbox and that if something decisive wasn’t done now, it would likely lead to more riots and more problems,” Banzhaf said.
“So, better to do something now and appear to be decisive,” he said.
Well,duh.
Apparently, the deceased was alive and had an un-severed spine when he was placed in the police vehicle.
When he came out, his spine was severed.
Spines do not sever themselves.
typical prosecutor BS : overcharge and stack as many possible charges as they can in order to freak out the defendant and make them cop a plea , or give themselves as much as possible to work up a plea with .
they seem to have no theory as to how it occurred;;
that would have been helpful. They murdered him...just...well...because
Because there’s a zillion maniacs destroying our city and we’re too scared to stop them the right way
second-degree depraved-heart murder
Never heard this one before.
First we had hate crimes, now we have heart crimes?
I’m no lawyer, obviously. But when I heard the litany of charges announced, my gut feeling was much the same as what this law professor is saying. She may as well have said “I’m gonna sue for a hundred billion-JILLION dollars!” It seemed like a huge overreach, and I don’t see her making those charges stick.
Hopefully the judge will be more like Banzhaf and less like Mosby.
Law before politics.
Had a discussion with two friends about this today and bith were adamant about me seeing the point of view that the officers killed the man.
If they did, so be it but, it’s not murder and there is no way it’s even remotely or obliquely “Depraved Murder”.
At best it’s some version of manslaughter, if they did this.
It’s marginally possible it’s 1st degree manslaughter but, if they did this, it’s at best 2nd manslaughter.
Still, they insist on defying how the law actually has not extant factors but, also extinuations and qualifications.
The rest of the charges are bogus and only designed to make someone a turncoat.
The law is distinct and precise in qualifying a charge.
This isn’t murder.
It may be manslaughter though and that’s the best they can realistically charge.
Stop it.
Modus Operandi is a ridiculous “notion” but, quaint nevertheless. ../S
Would you be so kind as to direct me to the document(s) supporting that assertion?
As I said after the charges came out, this indictment is DESIGNED TO FAIL.
The Verdict of not guilty will likely come late next summer, triggering huge riots, and riling black voters, JUST BEFORE THE 2016 Elections.
Interesting, though tragic ending. Did he violently jerk while in the fits of a drug induced hysteria, or were the police driving crazy to punish him?
I’ve personally never heard of the nickel ride, but wouldn’t it be obvious to other drivers in this day and age and caught on some camera somewhere if cops were employing this punishment?.
If my death were to occur directly or indirectly due to my selling and taking narcotics, my family would want answers but accept that it was the logical outcome to the life I was leading.
There is no moral code anymore. Only unfounded indignation
....”The Verdict of not guilty will likely come late next summer, triggering huge riots, and riling black voters, JUST BEFORE THE 2016 Elections”....
It’s been a comfortable distraction for the Demorats already. Ol’ Hillary was getting hammered there pretty good...that simply dropped off the map with these Protests.
Freddie, crazed out of his mind on the heroin he swallowed, severed his own spine by throwing himself off the walls of the van, falling and breaking his neck. And, even if that isn't what happened, it could have and there is reasonable doubt.
Yes it is always so convenient the way something big explodes when they are getting pounded, must be nice to be King.
If that's true, then once the acquittals occur, it's even more likely to trigger lawlessness amongst the (tiny minority) criminal subset of the black community.
Now why would the state of Maryland want to do that? Shouldn't they be bringing charges that are very likely to lead to convictions?
I guess none of us know enough of the facts yet, but I sure hope these charges are well-reasoned, because hysterical overcharging in this case is likely to cause even larger problems. It almost seems deliberate.
One more thought: if this indeed was a case of police brutality, and convictions occur as indicated, it'll be very interesting to see if a wider consensus begins to form regarding police brutality, because I do believe (and have seen with my own eyes) that many police do abuse their power (proportionally against all races) almost routinely, perjure themselves in court, etc., and it's an absolute disgrace that there is no accountability for it.
IMHO, Police should be terrified of abusing their power and violating the rights of any individual or group. They should save the extremism for the extreme criminals.
And the cops who can't accept the fact that they are accountable for their potential abuses shouldn't be cops, period.
“now we have heart crimes?”
They’re only committed during a total eclipse.
Spines do not sever themselves.
In the midst of all of this, I think we should all consider the video of the arrest, what there is of it.
According to witness Kevin Moore, Mr. Grey had apparently been tackled(?), tazered, and was folded up 'like origami' ;
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