LF: Hundreds Of Cases Dismissed Thanks To Baltimore PD Misconduct

After years of listening to tough-on-crime legislators and the tough-on-crime lawmen that love to hear them talk about filthy criminals beating the system by getting off on technicalities, it's somewhat funny to discover lots of what's complained about is nothing more than good old-fashioned due process and/or the collateral damage of crooked, inept, or lazy cops.

We've seen a lot of en masse criminal case dismissals recently. Thousands of convictions and charges were dropped in Massachusetts as the result of a state crime lab tech's years of faked drug tests. All over the nation, cops are letting perps walk rather than discuss law enforcement's worst-kept secret: Stingray devices.

Add to that list several hundred cases being dropped by prosecutors in Baltimore -- all thanks to officer misconduct. [via Scott Shackford at Reason]

Hundreds of criminal cases are impacted by the questionable conduct of Baltimore police officers, the city's top prosecutor announced in a statement.
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby's office released the updated numbers Wednesday. She said the actions of eight officers indicted for racketeering have affected 295 cases, and three more incidents of questionable use of body-worn cameras have impacted a total of 569 cases. Overall, she said up to 338 cases have been or could be dismissed.

The body camera footage at issue was discussed here earlier. What looked like an officer planting evidence turned out to be an officer performing an improvisational reenactment of "discovering" evidence he had actually discovered earlier (but without his body camera turned on). While less malicious than framing someone, the end result is no less questionable: a cop stuffing drugs into an object for recorded "discovery" later. Either way, it's something no cop should be doing, especially when they're wearing body cameras they can activate at any time.

The numbers of dismissals will likely continue to grow. Moby's office counts up to 338 possible dismissals so far, but characterizes these totals as "preliminary." The Baltimore PD, however, is spinning these dismissals in a different -- but wholly expected -- direction. While promising to "work to address the concerns" raised by the racketeering and footage-faking, police spokesman T.J. Smith claims these multiple cases of footage manipulation (there are four in total) are not indicative of larger, unaddressed problems with officer accountability.

Smith pointed out the importance of separating the four incidents, as they are "unique and independent of each other," adding that while eight officers are in federal prison for their criminal conduct, "the cases involving body-worn camera footage is still being investigated and no criminal wrongdoing has been proven."

Well, "unique" and "independent" except for the fact they all involved members of the Baltimore PD. Only a fool (or a police union spokesman) would believe these are the only times Baltimore officers have massaged camera footage and that the hundreds of cases edging towards dismissal will be the end of the prosecutorial bleeding. Misconduct of this type -- especially misuse of recording equipment -- tends to be a department-wide problem, rather than a few "bad apples" rising to the top of the barrel to be plucked and tossed by prosecutors.

It's run by a not-so crypto-Commie BLM Mayor. She is an Outlaw Mayor and Baltimore one more Black-run Outlaw City.

MY money is on THESE reasons the perps (yes, and they were/ARE dangerous "perps" regardless of technicality) were cut loose:

1) 0bama's BLM Army of Street Thugs can't be totally effective at continuing to destroy the city or its reputation if they're in jail.

2) The report of impropriety and "misconduct" reinforces the BLM narrative that they are justified in their crusade to punish and destroy [white] America and demonize cops. (EVEN THOUGH BALTIMORE IS RUN ENTIRELY BY HOMEY INC.)

3) This "release" is intended to reinforce the myth that American Cities and their respective Po-Po depts are WHITE-RUN, corrupt and "out to get Homey." (EVEN THOUGH BALTIMORE,CHICAGO, DC and other large American Cities ARE RUN ENTIRELY BY HOMEY INC.)

She said the actions of eight officers indicted for racketeering have affected 295 cases, and three more incidents of questionable use of body-worn cameras have impacted a total of 569 cases. Overall, she said up to 338 cases have been or could be dismissed.

That you call planting evidence, racketeering and footage-faking mere "technicalities" is troubling.

Wanna REALLY get down to brass tacks? EXACTLY how many "footage faking" cases were there? AND EXACTLY BY WHOM??

Blanket changes of a city auditor whose Mayor ENCOURAGED the destruction of its city in BLM riots, and PD (run by a black Police Chief) who stood down...is rich.

Baltimore has uncovered three cases of police staging evidence discoveries, and this led to the dismissal of 169 other cases involving those officers.

If they got caught one time, does that mean that they have never done it before?

Do you think that a cop who plants evidence or stages evidence discoveries is someone to be trusted?

As you said, this happens frequently - the fact that the article references the cases in Baltimore does not detract from the seriousness of the offenses.

No one who respects an honest and REAL Law Enforcement machination -- which includes the courts -- condones the planting of evidence.

That said, hasn't that been "business as usual" in Big Cities and little towns since courts were invented?

To die on a hill named "Baltimore" doesn't make much sense because apparently the law is especially relative there. But if the MSM wants to make issue of Baltimore Law Enforcement and corruption, we ARE going on this tangent.

From Mayor Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on down to cops to prosecutors to criminals to the little people. You're overlooking all that.

WHERE were *they* with respect to the Baltimore Mayor and Police Chief and the role each played when on that one infamous evening there *was* ZERO Law Enforcement in Baltimore?

What if as a result of this negligence and co-conspiring, YOUR business was set afire? YOUR skull cracked?

Was WAS "planted" that one night was "evidence" that Fascist-Commie American Mayors can violate their oaths and the law with impunity and endanger the very lives of hundreds of thousands of INNOCENT PEOPLE. And be given a FREE PASS because the MSM and Law is subservient to the whims Political Correctness.

Where is ANY prosecution and liability in light of the "evidence" and "discovery" recorded for posterity in the Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake own self-indicting words:

In Baltimore, even the Criminals aren't "criminals" because a few bad cops plant evidence in order to frame innocent black guys. Isn't THAT the gist of this MSM story?

"The REAL "Story" here is how the crusade by BLM is being justified by the MSM for their ongoing War on Whitey.

Yes...and also how the bottom of the LE food chain becomes a diversionary scapegoat as larger crimes (like assault, B&E, slavery, murder) and committed and enabled by Mayors like Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Chi-town Rahm Emmanuel, and NYC Bill de Blasio.

Well if you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole and get to the real nitty gritty - the riots were funded and staged by none other than George Soros.

Liberal billionaire gave at least $33 million in one year to groups that emboldened activists

Did the mayor order a "stand-down" by the police or was she simply following orders and the entire event staged in order to further divide the nation?

Ask yourself. Why is this particular case in Ferguson the one that our government and mainstream media have thrown all of their time and resources into? Why has it blown up so fast? Why were high-level shills like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton immediately involved and on the ground in St. Louis within 24 hours after Michael Brown was shot? (They certainly don’t do that every time a black man is shot by police in this country.) Why did our justice department get so intimately involved in Ferguson, with Obama ending his vacation early to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder about it, and Holder ordering not one but two federal autopsies (for a total of three autopsies) on Michael Brown?

Why is it this case of all cases? The one where the subsequent facts coming out don’t exactly paint Michael Brown as the totally innocent victim the media tried to initially portray him as? A case that will definitely divide people on race lines?

Sadly, there are lots of examples of police killing all sorts of totally innocent Americans all the time in this country. Elderly people in supposedly accidental SWAT raids. Mentally ill and disabled people. Children and family pets.

This will explain the cause of the Baltimore riot for those of you that have been wondering.

from the perp-walkers dept