Atty. Marilyn Mosby Now Says Freddie Gray’s Knife Isn’t Important To Case Against 6 Baltimore Cops

Daily Caller ^ | 05/20/2015 | Chuck Ross

[SeekAndFind]

The office of Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby has added a new wrinkle to the Freddie Gray case, alleging in a court filing that the 25-year-old was illegally arrested by Baltimore police officers even before they recovered a knife on his person.

In the motion, filed Monday, deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow rebuts a May 8 motion for dismissal and recusal filed by attorneys for the six officers charged in the case. Schatzow calls the attorneys’ claims that Mosby has numerous conflicts of interest “premature, frivolous, illogical.”

Schatzow also addressed Gray’s knife, which became a central part of the case when Mosby announced charges against the officers on May 1. Gray was arrested on April 12 and died a week later. His death was ruled a homicide, and he was determined to have sustained a broken neck while riding in the back of a police van.

During her press conference, Mosby stated that Gray was illegally arrested and that his knife was “legal under Maryland law.”

But in a May 8 motion for dismissal and recusal, attorneys for the officers disputed Mosby’s knife claim. They argued that while Gray’s “spring-action” knife was legal in Maryland, it was illegal in Baltimore.

In his response, Schatzow disputed the notion that Mosby argued that the legality of Gray’s arrest hinges on the knife.

Instead, he asserted that the statement of probable cause against the officers “makes clear that Mr. Gray was arrested well before the arresting officers knew he possessed a knife.”

“Mr. Gray was handcuffed at his surrendering location, moved a few feet away, and placed in a prone position with his arms handcuffed behind his back, all before the arresting officers found the knife,” Schatzow stated.

[Sherman Logan]

I can buy that. Sounds reasonable to me. When a cop shows up at a dispute or crime scene, he doesn’t know what’s going on and he needs to control the situation until he figures it out. He can’t assume who is and is not a threat.