Most likely, you’ve already seen this, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby making her announcement on Friday that six Baltimore police officers will be charged in the death of Freddie Gray. The 35-year old state’s attorney and daughter and granddaughter of police officers, more than proved herself, as did her staff, each of whom conducted independent research. Otherwise, the charges against six Baltimore police officers couldn’t have come so quickly after the medical examiner’s determination that Gray’s death was the result of a homicide. Here are the charging papers for each officer.
But we have so much building to do. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, black people and white people have vastly different views of their local police.
Meanwhile, “Saturday Night Live” took a shot at poking fun at the mess:
Know this: Freddie Gray committed no crime. The pocket knife he carried was legal. Something horrible happened to the man between the time he was arrested, and the time he reached the police station. Prayers for the courts, and prayers for the loved ones of Freddie Gray.
Dating Jesus 
The question now becomes: What charges will stick? Mosby’s experience with law enforcement, both personal and professional, has to inform a pragmatic realization that criminal accountability, especially within a privileged class, is a process of negotiation…deal wrangling…where political expediency can play as much a role as evidence.
You’re right. If this was a beautiful moment to be capped only with handing the accused over to a sympathetic justice system, then this was pretty empty. I’m hoping it’s something more than that.
It’s rare when our justice system is not sympathetic to privileged classes…especially law enforcement. For example: SCOTUS has ruled that law enforcement has the right to pursue and detain anyone running from them in “high crime areas.” (Illinois v. Wardlow) This creates a double standard benefiting privileged classes.
Another example is the corollary to “Too Big To Fail”: Too Rich To Jail.
While it’s obvious some disciplinary action will result from Mosby’s investigation, and possibly some criminal penalty, I would be surprised if any of the officers charged see the inside of a courtroom…or a jail cell.