Malicious Prosecution

Merlin99

Merlin99

Visualize whirled peas
PREMO Member
Tilted said:
The state's attorney originally filed charges against the 6 officers. But later evidence was presented to a grand jury which returned indictments against all 6 of those officers. Nr. Nero was indicted by the grand jury on 4 counts and those are the 4 counts that he was acquitted on yesterday.
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The grand jury was composed of people from a city that had just been ransacked by people using this case as their justification, do you think that thought crossed their mind? What do you think would have happened if they had voted for acquittal and their names had been found out? I'm not so sure they won't decide to have another pillage party if another cop is found innocent.
 
Midnightrider

Midnightrider

Well-Known Member
tblwdc said:
You never answered why YOU said Nero needs to face the music. You never answered that question because you are lumping him in with other officers. You don't have any facts. You are worse than a Baltimore prosecutor. Still wrong but can't admit it.
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Says the guy who claimed the prosecution was not arguing that Nero was part of the arrest and that there wasn't a grand jury. :bigwhoop:
 
T

tblwdc

New Member
Midnightrider said:
Says the guy who claimed the prosecution was not arguing that Nero was part of the arrest and that there wasn't a grand jury. :bigwhoop:
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Well, that's not what I said. I said Nero did not arrest him. I didn't say he wasn't part of the arrest. Those are your words. He was present, therefore he was part. He however, wasn't charged with arresting Gray. He was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct. Which of those charges are you saying he has to face the music for? Or are you still diverting from that statement?
 
Tilted

Tilted

..
Merlin99 said:
The grand jury was composed of people from a city that had just been ransacked by people using this case as their justification, do you think that thought crossed their mind? What do you think would have happened if they had voted for acquittal and their names had been found out? I'm not so sure they won't decide to have another pillage party if another cop is found innocent.
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Sure. But that doesn't change the legal issues surrounding a possible malicious prosecution claim, not when it comes to how grand jury indictments would factor into them.

But I also think that a prosecutor could have probably gotten an indictment on at least a couple of the charges for Mr. Nero even if such concerns weren't (perhaps) in play. The way grand juries work, it just isn't that difficult if there's some evidence to work with. In that case in Ferguson the prosecutor probably could have easily gotten an indictment of the officer if he had wanted to, even though there was considerable exculpatory evidence. A prosecutor doesn't have to present any of that (and typically prosecutors don't). A finding of probable cause can be built on relatively thin gruel or questionable legal arguments.

I would also expect more problems in Baltimore if a few more officers are acquitted (maybe even just 1 or 2 more). Prosecuting Mr. Nero may have been the biggest stretch so my guess is that most people in Baltimore are willing to wait and see what happens with the the next trial. Then again, something could happen at any time to set something off so who knows?
 
Midnightrider

Midnightrider

Well-Known Member
tblwdc said:
Well, that's not what I said. I said Nero did not arrest him. I didn't say he wasn't part of the arrest. Those are your words. He was present, therefore he was part. He however, wasn't charged with arresting Gray. He was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct. Which of those charges are you saying he has to face the music for? Or are you still diverting from that statement?
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Go on Mr integrity :killingme
 
PrchJrkr

PrchJrkr

Long Haired Country Boy
Ad Free Experience
Patron
Midnightrider said:
Says the guy who claimed the prosecution was not arguing that Nero was part of the arrest and that there wasn't a grand jury. :bigwhoop:
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JMJ. You sure are a juvenile pissant, aren't you? What's next, nanny, nanny, booboo?
 
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tom88

Well-Known Member
While suing any prosecutor or police or police officer for malicious prosecution is an uphill battle, it's not impossible. While I don't know all the merits of what such a suit might look like, I can speculate on a couple of things. In reading the probable cause the sergeant who originally charged these officers wrote, it appeared he cut and pasted a lot of the information. If he didn't provide exculpatory information to prosecutors, ie; the witness testimony that Nero showed up after the initial arrest when Gray was in handcuffs and the only time he touched Gray was to get his inhaler or lift him up because he couldn't breath, then he certainly could be culpable. (I'm not claiming that happened).

If the prosecutors, after reviewing the evidence, realized there was not probable cause but proceeded anyway, they then could be culpable.

This information certainly could come out during depositions.

Having said that, I doubt any attorney would sue this prosecutor or the cop who filed the charges, but I think it'd be a very interesting process with a lot of dirt coming out. I imagine there had to be conversations about not believing this cop was guilty. This all is jmo
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
tblwdc said:
Two things wrong. First, malicious prosecution is a civil matter and not a criminal one, therefore there are no "elements" of the crime.
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Yeah, it's a tort, not a criminal offense under state law. The feds have 'deprivation of civil rights under color of law' which has been used to go after rigged courts in the south.

It's still a steep hill to climb to prove the tort in. That a defendant was successful in the criminal trial does not prove that the case was baseless and an abuse of judicial process.

Second, they charged first in district court (no grand jury) then filed a criminal information (again, no grand jury) to bring the case to circuit court.
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You may want to check your facts before you spout off. The SA initially filed the charges directly to get some mugshots and then went to the grand jury to obtain the indictments:


Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby, who filed charges against the officers May 1, said at a news conference Thursday that prosecutors presented evidence in the case to the grand jury over two weeks. As a result, the grand jury added a charge of reckless endangerment against each of the officers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...2f2778-fe1b-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html

With the grand jury issuing the indictment, the SA is even further insulated from liability.
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
tblwdc said:
The prosecution knew before hand what their witness was going to say, in that Nero showed up after the arrest had taken place. You didn't answer my question. Are you saying a prosecutor can't be sued for malicious prosecution?
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The prosecution argued that Nero and Miller acted jointly. They used his use of 'we have one' on the radio as one of the indications that he took part in the arrest. Judge Williams found that the use of 'we' referred to 'The Baltimore police department' rather than the individual officers.

Based on what Williams has said from the bench, I could see how he would convict Miller given the same evidence. If Miller opts for a bench trial, things will get really absurd. Williams will have to ignore everything Miller said at the Nero trial as it was compelled testimony and limit his analysis to whatever comes before him during the Miller trial.
 
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tom88

Well-Known Member
tom88 said:
While suing any prosecutor or police or police officer for malicious prosecution is an uphill battle, it's not impossible. While I don't know all the merits of what such a suit might look like, I can speculate on a couple of things. In reading the probable cause the sergeant who originally charged these officers wrote, it appeared he cut and pasted a lot of the information. If he didn't provide exculpatory information to prosecutors, ie; the witness testimony that Nero showed up after the initial arrest when Gray was in handcuffs and the only time he touched Gray was to get his inhaler or lift him up because he couldn't breath, then he certainly could be culpable. (I'm not claiming that happened).

If the prosecutors, after reviewing the evidence, realized there was not probable cause but proceeded anyway, they then could be culpable.

This information certainly could come out during depositions.

Having said that, I doubt any attorney would sue this prosecutor or the cop who filed the charges, but I think it'd be a very interesting process with a lot of dirt coming out. I imagine there had to be conversations about not believing this cop was guilty. This all is jmo
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So, I was right and I was wrong.....I didn't think there would be an attorney with the balls to go after Mosley, but I was wrong. I think, and I believe we will find, that the state did know more about the innocence of these officers prior to going to trial. This should be very interesting to find out what goes on in depositions!!!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...i-gray-officers-sue-mosby-20160525-story.html

[QUOTEThe officers claim that Mosby and Cogen knew the statement of charges filed against the officers and other statements made by Mosby at a May 1, 2015, news conference announcing the charges "were false."

"These among other statements were made not for the purpose of prosecuting crimes that had allegedly been committed by White and Porter, but rather for purposes of quelling the riots in Baltimore," the suit alleges.][/QUOTE]

I get that the suit will unlikely be successful, but I think it might reveal a treasure trove of corruption within the Baltimore States Attorney's Office.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Bird Dog said:
Quote Originally Posted by Midnightrider V
not to mention that people get charge and tried all the time and are ultimately found innocent. that does not mean the prosecution was malicious, it just means the case was not proven.

The Forum genius was correct again.....not
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Typically, whatever side MR takes, whatever argument he makes, you can lay money that it's wrong. He's been wrong so many times, he should get an award. They should make a movie about him. Name a Nobel participation prize after him. Jimmy Vaccaro should use him to set odds. Take him to Vegas and get rich betting against him.
 
Lurk

Lurk

Happy Creepy Ass Cracka
Mosby's aspirations to be the first black female governor of Maryland just flew out the window.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Lurk said:
Mosby's aspirations to be the first black female governor of Maryland just flew out the window.
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Why do you say that? Because you don't think there are enough mindless progbots and black people in Maryland to get her elected?
 
Lurk

Lurk

Happy Creepy Ass Cracka
vraiblonde said:
Why do you say that? Because you don't think there are enough mindless progbots and black people in Maryland to get her elected?
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At this point, her vicious prosecution of another black will probably spoil her attractiveness to Midnight and that segment of the population.
 
O

officeguy

Well-Known Member
vraiblonde said:
Good. I hope they give her the death penalty and she can take her bestie Stephanie with her to hell.
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It's a civil action. Worst case, the state will have to pay out a couple of millions on her behalf.

Interesting how her eagerness to get them charged is what opened her up to this suit:

Mosby's attorneys had said she has absolute prosecutorial immunity from actions taken as a state's attorney. But Garbis noted that her office has said it conducted an independent investigation.

"Plaintiffs' malicious prosecution claims relate to her actions when functioning as an investigator and not as a prosecutor," Garbis wrote.
 
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