Four eyes
by Lori Barrett | April 21, 2008 at 11:07 am
Posted in baltimore crime, baltimore news, drugs
If your life is in danger, make sure you have an audience.
The State’s Attorney’s Office will not prosecute a homicide in Baltimore unless two witnesses are available to testify. This policy is an effort to bump up conviction rates, which were subpar when relying on only one witness. The lone witness often changed testimony or simply “disappeared.”
Detectives are angry because cases without multiple witnesses are stalled, despite the strength of the case. Prosecutors are happy because first-degree murder convictions increased from 14 in 2006 to 31 in 2007. (As a reminder, 282 people were killed in Baltimore last year.)
In a separate story today, the State’s Attorney is dismissing a number of drug cases because of credibility issues surrounding witnesses for the cases. The witnesses are two city detectives.
Prosecutors are suspicious of the detectives; their statements on probable cause have been contradicted by civilian witnesses, as well as video evidence from police cameras. They are therefore banned from testifying in court and their pending cases — dozens so far — will be dismissed.
How can we stop crime in this city when it’s going unpunished?
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April 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
You just couldn't make this stuff up. This city and its policies are laughable. This city is a warzone. Yet we the people are not allowed to protect ourselves, and the prosecuters won't do their jobs and actually put these scum in jail.
We have more Americans dying in the streets of Baltimore than we do in Baghdad. That is crazy. So what should criminals do from now on, I guess make sure to shoot all the witnesses as well. Heck thats a get out of jail free card.
You ask how do we stop crime in the city? Well stiff penalties for one. We need to aggresively go after gang members. Anyone ever watch the movie Tombstone? The last 1/3 of that movie where Wyatt goes after everyone with a Red slash on?
Its time we let the police take the gloves off and do their jobs. They know better than the beauracrats what needs done. I'm sure most of the cops on the streets could point out on their daily patrols who the most dangerous people in the city are... and why they are still on the streets.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Maybe I watch too much CSI and L&O, but aren't there other forms of evidence than witnesses? Eye witness testimony is notoriously unreliable. How many of us forget someone we've seen several times, let alone under the stress of criminal activities.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
How can we stop crime in this city when it is going unpunished?
Jury convicts city man of killing 64-year-old
Gang member gets term of life plus 20
Man pleads guilty to 2007 killing
Man sentenced to 45 years for firing gun from dirt bike
Man, 23, gets 75 years in fatal shooting
City man sentenced to life for attempted murder
City man guilty of fatal '07 shooting
2 men convicted of selling heroin in E. Baltimore
Man who hit officer sentenced
Man pleads guilty to burglary in Northeast Baltimore
Headlines from the Baltimore Sun since late March about this so-called unpunished crime. Give me a break, Lori. Stop making such broad generalizations.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I'm not saying all crime goes unpunished. But the fact remains that the State's Attorney is refusing to prosecute dozens of drug cases because the lead detectives are not good witnesses. Those crimes most certainly are going unpunished.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
The State's Attorney's Office is not pursing charges against dozens of drug cases in SPECIFIC cases in which there are legitimate concerns about whether the police in question are telling the truth, therefore, casting reasonable doubt about whehter a crime actually took place! The fact remains you wrote "How can we stop crime in this city when it’s going unpunished?" You didnt write: how can we stop specific instances of drug crimes when questionable police tactics lead the State's Attorney's Office to dismiss a case. The clear implication is ALL, and I think that is misleading. After all, the prisons are filled with many criminals being punished for their deeds, the vast majority from the Charm City. Broad generalizations like the one stated on this blog do nothing to further the discussion.