After six Baltimore Police officers were charged in the death of Freddie Gray on Friday, the Fraternal Order of Police fired off an open letter asking Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to remove herself from the Freddie Gray case.
Apparently, members of the organization feel that Mosby’s office handling the case presents several “conflicts of interest.” What are those conflicts, you ask?
1. Mosby’s “personal and professional” relationship with William Murphy, the Gray’s family attorney.
2. “The lead prosecutor’s connections with members of the local media.”
3. And “most importantly,” the assumption that Mosby’s husband Councilman Nick Mosby’s “political future will be directly impacted” by the outcome of the investigation.
As a solution to the presented “conflicts of interest,” Baltimore’s FOP is requesting that Mosby appoint a special prosecutor to handle the investigation. This, of course, is laughable (and ironic) considering that a special prosecutor is what the relatives of countless police victims have been requesting for years.
“Myself and some other family members who have been affected and lost their loved ones due to police shootings felt that when it’s time to get justice, go to trial, be in court, it’s a conflict of interest. Local prosecutors build their cases on a daily basis from police officers,” Nicole Paultre Bell, the widow of Sean Bell told us last December. “Police officers hand over their cases all of the time to these prosecutors for them to bring charges up. And now for the prosecutor to have to turn around and bring these same charges against an officer, it’s a conflict of interest”
It’s quite interesting that this organization is now pleading for a special prosecutor because it looks like these officers may actually have to take responsibility for their actions.
Check out the full letter below
An Open Letter to State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby 5/1/2015 http://pic.twitter.com/iUJ7elR3bq
— Baltimore City FOP (@FOP3) May 1, 2015
