Ken Berwitz
This would be hilarious….if it didn\’t involve the death of a man and the lives of 6 Baltimore police officers.
Remember that knife Freddie Gray had in his possession when he was arrested?
-The knife that newly-elected State Attorney Marilyn mosby told us was perfectly legal for Gray to carry, thus he was arrested illegally for possessing it?
-The knife that defense lawyers for the Baltimore 6 insisted was illegal, and demanded to see?
-The knife that mosby zealously prevented them from seeing?
-The knife that it has become increasingly difficult for her to justify keeping from the defense?
Well, now, all of a sudden, as the demands to see it reach a crescendo…
…mosby informs us that, whoops, it wasn\’t important to the case at all. It had nothing to do with Gray\’s arrest.
I kid you not.
Read all about it in the following excerpt from Chuck Ross\’s article at dailycaller.com:
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.
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, (deputy State\’s Attorney Michael) 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.”
Two questions for deputy State\’s Attorney Schatzow:
1) If the knife was irrelevant to the charges against these police officers, why did his boss, marilyn mosby, make a point of bringing it up and declaring it was legal for him to carry?
2) If the knife had nothing to do with the arrest, why did mosby keep it locked up where no one could see it – and only claim it had no meaning to the case when the demands to show that knife became so strong that she might have to do so?
This case stinks. It stunk right from the beginning, as mosby wildly overcharged the Baltimore 6, then made it clear she was pursuing the case with extreme prejudice.
And now? With the sudden Emily Litella (“uh…never mind”) routine about the knife? mosby is rapidly turning into a national laughingstock….if she isn\’t there already.
And if this – and the rest of his rumpelstiltskinesque tirade against the defense (read the entire article to see for yourself) – is the best that Michael Schatzow can come up with, he\’s not far behind.
