Don’t let anyone fool you, a mistrial is not good news for the prosecution in the Freddie Gray trial.
Here’s why.
The prosecution said they had the evidence to try the case beyond a reasonable doubt, yet in the first case to go to trial there were enough jurors in doubt to cause a mistrial.
And legal scholars, both liberal and conservative say, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has no one to blame but herself.
They say her initial speech and presentation of the indictments played well politically among protesters and in the streets of Baltimore, but nationally it was deemed as political and highly inappropriate.
Tapper – “While that may have been a short term political high, if you’ll pardon the expression, at the end of the day these cases were not ready to go to trial.”
Toobin – “Or never should have been brought at all. Jake, the technical legal term for the prosecution at this point is up a creek.”
Hostin – “I think that these cases were brought too quickly and this is the result when you bring a case too quickly.”
Both Sunny Hostin and Jeffry Toobin, CNN legal analysts, say when there are multiple, connected prosecutions, usually the best case, or the easiest case is presented first.
The prosecution was hoping to use Officer William Porter as an example and as a witness against the other officers.
This latest turn of events not only puts a damper on that strategy but it offers up the stark reality of what a hung jury really means for this case and the ones to follow.
Toobin – “When you have hung juries that is almost a win for the defense. In American jury trials and criminal cases the prosecution wins somewhere between 80 and 90% of the time. So a hung jury is a defeat for the prosecution, especially when they needed Porter to make some of these other cases.”
In regards to those who are prosecution the officers, it’s not impossible for them to pull it off, but it is improbable.
Don Lemon: Prosecutors “Up A Creek” In Freddie Gray Mistrial was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
