BALTIMORE – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:   Baltimore has calmed down since the state's attorney announced charges against five policemen and one policewoman in the death of Freddie Gray.  But many questions are being asked by lawyers, especially regarding the speed with which the charges were made, and the status of the state's attorney.  From Daily Caller: 

Marilyn Mosby, the Maryland state attorney for Baltimore who on Friday announced charges against six city police officers for the death of Freddie Gray, said last year that a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown “breaks [her] heart” and that a special prosecutor should have been appointed to handle the case.

The revelation comes as Mosby is being asked to recuse herself and appoint a special prosecutor to handle the case against six Baltimore police officers now charged with a range of crimes in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Baltimore’s Fraternal Order of Police slammed Mosby’s charging announcement, calling it a “rush to judgement.” The group said that Mosby should recuse herself from the case because her husband, Nick Mosby, is a city councilman whose district encompasses the area where Gray was arrested earlier this month.

The organization fears that Nick Mosby’s reelection chances will be hurt if his wife does not throw the book at the officers.

COMMENT:  Mosby's announcement of the charges seemed more a political statement directed toward the crowds of protesters than a legal statement.  She herself is a political activist.

That doesn't automatically mean that Mosby will act improperly, but her political status casts a pall over the case.  When similar questions were raised in Ferguson, Eric Holder's Justice Department stepped in and conducted its own investigation, which, ironically, cleared the officer involved in the killing of Michael Brown.  There is no indication of Justice Department intervention here.

The officers may well be guilty.  I don't know.  I wasn't there.  But process is critical in a well-run justice system, and the process in Baltimore is raising too many legitimate questions.

May 2, 2015