Some of us have been critical of the changes brought by State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby in the death of Freddie Gray. As we have seen in past high-profile cases, the prosecutors over charged the case against various defendants with very little evidence. The result has been a series of acquittals. Now, my GWU colleague Professor John Banzhaf III has taken that controversy to a new level with the filing of complaints seeking disbarment with the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission against Mosby, Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow and Deputy State’s Attorney Janice Bledsoe. He alleges that these prosecutors knowingly brought charges without a sufficient evidentiary basis.
Gray, 25, suffered a spinal injury in a ride in a police van after his arrest in April 2015. He died a week later. Mosby and her staff secured charges against six police officers — three have been acquitted in trials before Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams. Williams has found insufficient evidence in past cases — a view shared by some commentators including myself.
Professor Banzhaf believes that the lack of probable cause is obvious but simply ignored by the prosecutors. His earlier complaint against Mosby called her a “runaway prosecutor.” He accused her of yielding to the demands of the mob rather than serving the interests of justice.
Banzhaf often includes students in his litigation, which has included groundbreaking reforms in combating tobacco use. His class on litigation is called “Sue the Bastards.” He is the founder of a smoking pressure group, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Even as a law student, Banzhaf was a fierce advocate. While still a student at Columbia Law School, Banzhaf wrote a note on copyrighting computer and software programs. It had never been done despite requests. While still a student, Banzhaf sought to register copyrights on two programs he had written. He became in 1964 the first person to register such copyrights. He later testified in Congress on the issue. Not a bad start for a law student.
Despite my respect for such public interest successes and my agreement on the lack of evidence in these cases, I remain skeptical about the chances of the bar complaints. I previously applauded bar actions against abusive prosecutors like Mike Nifong from the infamous Duke Lacrosse case. However, courts and bars afford considerable leeway in balancing evidence to support an indictment. Notably, Nifong was guilty of an array of unethical acts related to his public statements and conduct. The odds heavily favor the prosecutors in these complaints in my view.
What do you think?
Paul Schulte how many have officially filed complaints as Banzhaf has? Being critical of Mosby is one thing but this is enablement for future nickel rides
CK07 – all I know is that several attorneys have said they were going to file complaints. I do not know that they have or that they will.
As your site says Res Ipsa Loquitor. It’s not mere negligence when Baltimore has a history of nickel rides and a kid who’s taken for one winds up dead with his neck broken. I beleive her team picked the worst order to prosecute by starting with he person who had the least to do with it and it was a mistake to charge each and every one of them with 2nd degree murder after seeing how these trials play out elsewhere but if Freddie Gray were Prof Banzhaf taken for a similar ride and winding up dead America wouldn’t bat an eyelash of the officers were charged with 2nd degree murder. It’s because we look at the kid as a lowlife who was probably non-compliant and deserved it, and prof. Banzhaf as an upstanding citizen and credit to society. No one would be aiming to get the proesecutor disbarred from such a case. However, the laws are meant to protect the least among us as well as the rest. Banzhaf may think he’s acting in the interest of justice, but the people who are egging him on and championing this disbarment are mostly doing this because of the racially and socio-economically charged nature of this case. This won’t help improve society where minorities already feel the courts are against them and police are mainly meant to protect the majority. I’ve had my own bad experience with Baltimore police who were issued a warning not to go into hot pursuit in the city after killing a motorcyclist a few years back, and chose to chase a man for distribution of marijuana for 20 minutes straight after he first fled and hit one of their cars. In the chase he sideswiped and killed a good friend of mine who was there on business. Business as usual in Baltimore needs to change and disbarring Mosby for overreach will only enable the bad actors among them and divide us.
CKO7 – several other sites have pushed for Mosby to be disbarred. This is not a one-off.
(music-)
Buckle up for safety, Buckle Up!
Buckle up for safety always Buckle Up!
Make your seat belt snug
Give an extra tug!
Buckle up for safety always buckle up.
—
The song should be played on the police radio every half hour.
@surimike
Yes, I do fall back on policy. Organizations like the police and miIitary are highly regulated. Individual officers are not allowed to substitute their own judgement on how something should be done for the government regulations. Even if an officer thought that the prisoner should have been duct taped between two mattresses for his own safety, he would not be allowed to do that. He is required to follow the regulations that have been provided to him on how to transport prisoners, whether or not he believes they are adequate. How many prisoners are transported daily, weekly, and yearly by Baltimore PD? One of the highest crime cities in the county? It must be millions. Yet this is the first time this has happened. Just because something bad happens doesn’t mean that someone has to be made a scapegoat to satisfy the bloodlust of the mob.
While the cases against specific Baltimore police officers always seemed weaker, the general idea of someone dying in police custody in such a fashion is indicative of sloppy work and likely negligence as a whole. Thus, disagree that this professor thinking this suit somehow cures a weaker case.
The more disappointing part is that in 2016 is the continuance of racist comments as if current policing in the USA is not at times racially based – how many times had the guy in New Orleans been stopped before being killed in seemingly questionable circumstances – 46 times in 14 years? Clearly pro slave forces are alive, well and regularly active in the USA (mostly supporting our possible plagiarizer in chief) and sadly quite evident on this blog. As those type comments are possibly a contributing factor for the unwarranted and misguided criminal retaliation against police officers, maybe those people should be arrested for complicity in the Dallas and Baton Rouge police shootings.
I think you all should be mad at the professor for having to pay for all the software you have purchased over the years. He is on my naughty list, again.
I think Mosby has shot herself in the foot so often that she will be fired/retired/vacationed.
So Freddie Gray killed himself! That must be what happened since each of the Officers so far have been found not guilty Now a George Washington Univ Law Professor wants to sue the Prosecutors, brilliant! in a country where no matter what you see on video, let’s disregard Black witnesses per McCollough in Missouri part of their training says Attorneys for LAPD beaters of Rodney King “the video is not the whole story; so Not Guilty So yes that’s the most constructive thing this Professor can do when Black People are being killed by Police with impunity. So again I say this is the best this Law Professor from a prestigious White University in the middle of Washington, DC thinks is a good thing to do especially in this volatile atmosphere. Good Job White People
@surimike
Of course BPD had a reasonable obligation to get Drug Pusher Gray to the jail safely. However, reasonable steps do not include trussing Gray up like Hannibal Lector, replete with face mask, on the off chance that Gray would swan dive head first into the floor of the van. Once the BPD became aware that Gray was in distress, they had him taken to the hospital.
Certainly not murder charges and other charges for cops who arrested the piece of trash for carrying a knife. Unless of course you think it racissssst! to subject black folks to the law in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Which is NOT hyperbole because there are serious people now who seem to be advocating just such a form of segregation- under the aegis of “reforming the criminal justice system.” There are even race-baiting idiots who complain that too many blacks are getting arrested, or suspended from school, or stopped for speeding without any consideration that blacks are disproportionately doing the things which tend to get people arrested, suspended, or stopped for traffic violations.
When the Old Segregationists suggested that blacks were pretty much undomesticatible baboons who could not be expected to make it in a civilized society, they were roundly criticized as racists and white supremacists. Now, that the Liberals are saying the same things, albeit in nicer terms, they are being widely praised as progressive and forward thinking! It would be morbidly hilarious if it were not for all the suffering the poor blacks are having to endure in the meantime.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Of course these prosecutors over charge the police in high profile cases like this.. Look at the pattern.. From the publics eye it looks good on them. If they lose, than the public can say “Well.. It is a rigged system, but at least they tried.” and move on.. Later, when the prosecutor loses the case, because of the obviously over weighted charges, the prosecutors can go to the police department heads, and say “See.. I had your boys backs all along.” It is a win/win for the prosecutor.
Mosby is horrendous, but Before we lionize Banzhaf, remember he is the same guy who sued (unsuccessfully) The Catholic University of America for: (1) having single sex dorms; and (2) having crucifixes on the walls that he falsely alleged made Muslim students uncomfortable.
@Squeeky Your point being? BPD not responsible to safely deliver their prisoner because he was hurting himself?
I personally know that some prisoners will try to hurt themselves to get out of jail. One of Penelope’s criminal clients, a white guy, bragged to us how he got out of jail once by banging his head against the cell wall until his head was bloody, and he was acting crazy so they would take him to the crazy ward. Then after a few more days of acting crazy, and taking some meds that he didn’t need, he got out. Nobody ever pursued him for the armed robbery charge.
True story. I heard it with my own ears. Penelope checked his record, and the arrest was there but it had fallen off the page after there was no speedy trial. Penelope says that prisoners hurt themselves all the time to get one thing or another. But I actually heard this one say it.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@TIN .. So you fall back on ‘Policy’ You propose that there is no responsibility for BPD to safely deliver their prisoner to their destination. I suppose the KGB could have used the same justification. Please don’t get me wrong, i’m as conservative as they come, but the man DIED in police custody and no one is accountable. Really?
@bigfatmike,
The Baltimore regulation requiring the use of seatbelts on prisoners had only been in effect for one week at the time of the death. And there was no evidence that the new policy had yet been distributed to the rank and file. The bicycle cop who put him in the van was acquitted by the (black) judge because even though he was a sergeant, there was no indication that he, a bicycle cop, knew of the change in policy. It is not at all standard to buckle in prisoners for transport. Even school busses don’t have seatbelts. (Although I think they should.)
Another complicating factor is the Baltimore policy that if a prisoner is injured during arrest or transport, he is automatically released from the station house and charges are dropped. That may explain why the other prisoner in the van heard Mr. Gray moving around. There is some speculation that he intentionally stood and tried to get banged up a little so that charges would be dropped. He was a repeat criminal and was well aware of the policy. Unfortunately for him, the windowless van took a turn he didn’t anticipate, and he fell headfirst, injuring his neck which led to his death three days later. I don’t think anyone is really at fault, other than an idiotic city policy which encouraged street-wise prisoners to try to injure themselves.
Really Professor.. A man dies in Police custody and you support disbarment of a prosecutor who calls this into question. Really? Please explain how BPD is not responsible.
I think the only person who rushed to judgement quicker than this attention whore Mosby was the city attorney who gave the family $4 million. They did that in cahoots w/ Mosby thinking it would influence a jury. These cops have excellent representation w/ all trials being bench trials. That settlement was INCREDIBLY quick, as were the criminal charges being filed. I read a piece the other day about Banzhaf and this case. He is an iconoclast. I’m glad JT posted this. But come on, she’s a black/female in Baltimore. That’s at least 2 get out of jail free cards. She’ll skate on this and probably be mayor of Baltimore soon.
The mayor, as well as the good taxpayers of Baltimore, should also be held financially responsible for the widespread destruction, anticipated and permitted by the mayor, in the wake of Mr Gray’s demise.
Let me elaborate. I think our country has gotten to the point that standards simply don’t matter. For example, we have a First Amendment. Do our students and universities respect it? Only if the speaker agrees with them. And that’s a pretty simple thing to understand. A pretty black and white thing. But there are lawyers and college educated white folks who will support the students in one way or another.
Now, this professor wants to take Mosby to task in an area of the law which is not so black and white. Sure Mosby is out of line. But so was the prosecutor in Florida against Zimmerman. So is the DOJ on these long and involved investigations where some black thug gets capped by the cops. Now, there is such race baiting farce in this country, that we are supposed to ignore a 75% illegitimate birth rate by the black welfare mothers and light on White Privilege as the reason their heathen savage spawn is murdering the crap out of each other and other people to boot.
That nonsense is perpetuated by the Democrats, the liberals, and the main stream press etc. The Democratic Party nominee is proposing that we free a bunch of black drug dealers and turn them loose in the hood. The Democratic governor of Virginia is turning 200,000 felons loose on the polls. Our Democratic President is aiming to make it illegal to ask if a job applicant has a criminal record. And OMG, just dare to ask a voter for a picture ID and you would think the Klan is out night-riding and tying strange fruit to the local trees. On top of that you have 3,500 black on black murders in Chicago during the Obama Presidency which gets ignored.
That is the atmosphere into which our brave professor is going to try to inject some reason and some standards. I wish him luck, but talk about tilting at windmills! There is no racial sanity in this country. I hope he succeeds, but frankly I think he is on a losing quest.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
On the other hand, it is surprising that, seemingly, no one is responsible for causing such serious injuries to a person in custody, given that the person was not secured in accordance with standards in use at that time.
Some of us are wondering how we can have standards, and training, yet it is impossible to identify the person responsible for the conditions that lead to the injury?
He racisssst!!! How dare he have no compassion for black prosecutors. He is just an obese Republican trying to keep blacks and womyn in their place! Black lives matter!!!
Just a foretaste of what he faces. I wish him luck.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter