Unarmed Man Shot In Baltimore Suburb

Baltimore County police officers shot and killed an unarmed man in Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills early Thursday, writes the Baltimore Sun. The Herald-Standard claimed that the man was going to commit suicide.

The police were responding to a report of domestic violence at a home they had visited more than a dozen times over the past three years.

Spencer Lee McCain, 41, died about 8 a.m. at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, police said.

The Herald-Standard:

“An unarmed black man killed by Baltimore County police told his girlfriend’s mother that he was going to commit suicide as officers were on their way to his home after reports of domestic violence, the mother said Thursday.”

Baltimore County Police Chief Jim Johnson said officers believed McCain was armed. However, they did not find a weapon on him, writes the Baltimore Sun.

Police received a 911 call about a possible domestic disturbance at the condominium in the 3000 block of Hunting Ridge Drive in Owings Mills shortly after 1 a.m., Johnson said. He said a 10-year-old child who lived at the home called a grandmother, who dialed 911.

He said the first officer to arrive knew of a history of domestic violence calls at the home. Since 2012, police said, officers responded to 911 calls for the address 17 times, including several reports of fighting.

(Updated title)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-co-police-involved-shooting-20150625-story.html

http://www.heraldstandard.com/united_states_ap/baltimore-co-police-kill-unarmed-man-after-suicide-threat/article_fe7d9e21-b096-5250-b94f-2cd1211da33d.html

African-American Justice, Representation, And The State’s Attorney In Baltimore

MSNBC

MSNBC talks with Christina Greer, Mychal Denzel Smith, Lester Spence, and Neil Roberts about justice, political representation in Baltimore, and the role of the new State’s Attorney.

MSNBC: Baltimore Mayor’s Speech On Indictments

MSNBC

Earlier last week, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake spoke on the indictments of the six police officers who will be charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Strange: Indicted Baltimore Police Threaten To Sue State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby

According to the British publication The Guardian, on Friday, the Baltimore police officers being prosecuted over the death of Freddie Gray threatened to sue the city’s top prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, for arresting them.

They threatened the lawsuit as they demanded that she step down from their case over alleged conflicts of interest.

“As part of a barrage of hostile court filings that also sought to dismiss all charges against the officers on technical grounds, their lawyers attacked Mosby, the state’s attorney for Baltimore, who announced their charges in the Gray case in a shock statement last Friday,” writes The Guardian.

In an “extraordinary 109-page motion,” the officers’ lawyers said all six may sue Mosby and mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for arresting and detaining them unless the city pays them tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

“They accused Mosby in sharply personal terms of breaching the US constitution, the Maryland declaration of rights, and her professional code,” writes The Guardian.

Constitution?

CNN states:

“On Thursday, the city and the state each received a notice that the defense believes it has cause to file a civil lawsuit claiming unlawful arrest and detention of the six officers. The officers were justified in their arrest of Gray for an illegal knife, the document says, so detaining them amounted to false imprisonment. The motion also says Mosby’s public comments expose her to civil liability. The letters act as a request for a financial settlement for “more than $75,000″ for each officer.”

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/08/baltimore-freddie-gray-police-threaten-to-sue-marilyn-mosby

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/08/us/freddie-gray-case-dismissal-motion/

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/09/410271/Baltimore-police-officials

Baltimore Officers Charged In Freddy Gray’s Death Want Case Dismissed

According to the Associated Press, attorneys for the six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a man who died of a spinal injury while in custody, asked a judge Friday to dismiss the case or assign it to someone other than the city’s top prosecutor.  They claim she has too many conflicts of interest to remain objective.

The lawyers state that at a minimum, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby should be replaced with an independent prosecutor.

The motion was filed in Baltimore District Court.

In the latest legal move to challenge the charges, the motion says Mosby’s prosecution has been “overzealous” and “politically motivated.”

Ms. Mosby announced the charges a day after receiving an investigative report from the police. The motion argues that part of the reason she acted so swiftly was to quash protests that gave way to violence in West Baltimore, where Gray was arrested and “where Mosby’s husband, Nick Mosby, is a city councilman,” according to the Associated Press.   A separate motion argues that her rapid decision could be at odds with a law that requires a thorough investigation prior to filing charges.

(Updated article)

http://news.yahoo.com/officers-charged-arrested-mans-death-want-case-dismissed-022710467.html

U.S. Justice Department Will Investigate Baltimore Police Over Freddie Gray Treatment

The U.S. Justice Department will investigate whether the Baltimore Police Department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing, said law enforcement officials on Thursday.

A request was made by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for the Justice Department to investigate.

This came soon after the Baltimore state’s attorney filed criminal charges against six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray.

Gray died April 19 after being injured while in police custody. Gray’s death set off large demonstrations, arson and looting.

At a policing conference earlier on Thursday, the Baltimore police commissioner, Anthony W. Batts, said he did not object to an outside investigation, and said that he was committed to reforming the Police Department.

He said he recognized that Baltimore residents did not trust the city to make changes voluntarily, states the New York Times.

“I am willing to do anything it takes to win that trust back,” he said. “If it’s D.O.J., whatever it takes.”

The situation has dominated Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch’s first days in office, as the riots broke out in Baltimore on her first day on the job.

“The situation in Baltimore involves a core responsibility of the Department of Justice — not only to combat illegal conduct when it occurs, but to help prevent the circumstances that give rise to it in the first place,” said Ms. Lynch on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

If the Justice Department finds that there was a “pattern or practice” of discriminatory policing, it will ask that the police department make sweeping changes.

If the police department declines to do so, the matter could land in front of a federal judge, who could force changes within the department, writes ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/freddy-gray-doj-announces-federal-probe-entire-baltimore/story?id=30899279

Officer Asks To See Knife In Freddie Gray Case

A defense attorney for one of the six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray is challenging prosecutors’ claim that Gray was falsely arrested. He filed a motion Tuesday demanding to inspect the knife Gray carried.

Marc L. Zayon, the attorney for Baltimore officer Edward Nero, asked a judge to make the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office and Baltimore police turn over the blue knife Gray carried to determine whether it’s legal in the city of Baltimore. The knife was found clipped to the inside of Gray’s pants pockets after officers took him down, writes The Baltimore Sun.

There has been some questions on whether Freddie Gray had a “switchblade” or a pocket knife. The request to see the knife is significant because a folding pocket knife is not illegal. However, a spring-loaded switchblade knife is.

Last month, Baltimore City police wrote in court documents that Freddie Gray was arrested “without force or incident” for having a “switchblade knife.”

According to the Associated Press, the State’s Attorney of Baltimore Marilyn Mosby states that the knife was not a switchblade and was legal.

The knife was found “clipped to Gray’s pants pocket,” states the Associated Press.

NBC called the knife a “folding knife” that was folded in. In other words, it was a pocket knife.

The motion by the lawyer was the first legal move in defense of an officer involved in the April 12 arrest of Gray, who died a week later from spinal injuries suffered while in police custody.

(Updated article)

CNN Talks To Man Behind A Freddie Gray Video

CNN

Kevin Moore, the man who filmed Freddie Gray’s arrest, talks to CNN about filming the incident and standing up for what he believes is right despite his fear.

Crowdfunding Website For Baltimore Police Charged In Freddie Gray’s Murder Shut Down

A “crowdfunding” site for a campaign to raise money for the six Baltimore police officers charged in death of Freddie Gray was shut down, according to The L.A. Times.

The Baltimore police union launched a GoFundMe page Friday, but a spokeswoman said the page has been removed because it violated GoFundMe company policy.

“GoFundMe cannot be used to benefit those who are charged with serious violations of the law,” said Kelsea Little, GoFundMe’s public relations manager. “The campaign clearly stated that the money raised would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is a direct violation of GoFundMe’s terms.”

The L.A. Times writes that the website specifically bars campaigns “in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts.”

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-gofundme-baltimore-cops-20150502-story.html

What Is Currently Going On In Baltimore?

It has been about a week since the worst of the riots in Baltimore.  What has been recently going on?

Protests have been largely celebratory since State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges against the six police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s arrest, states The Baltimore Sun.

The announcement by the city’s top prosecutor came as a shock to many in the Baltimore Police Department.

The police department officially handed over the case to Mosby’s office last week but will continue to investigate Gray’s death, Commissioner Anthony Batts said.

Gray died April 19, a week after his arrest.

Hundreds rejoiced and sang outside City Hall on Sunday, and many residents attended special worship services across the city, writes The Baltimore Sun.

Crime unrelated to the protests spiked last week, despite the additional police on duty and heavy National Guard presence.

Eight homicides and 12 shootings have been reported across the city since Tuesday.

Outside of the city, observers are looking at how the events in Baltimore will play into presidential campaigns. Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley said the tensions that erupted into riots last week would be central to his presidential campaign, should he decide to run for office.

The New Republice writes that members of the city’s rival gangs—the Bloods, Crips, Black Guerrilla Family (BGF)—say they’ve declared a truce and vowed to bring peace to their communities.

Many people in the city wonder what might be the long term economic impact to Baltimore after the riots destroyed some businesses, and left many outside the city with a negative image.