Nathaniel Treat, a 27-year-old Annapolis man was recovering at Johns Hopkins Hospital yesterday after he was stabbed three times in the stomach while trying to save someone he saw being beaten in Charles Village.
One instance and one quote is no argument for any kind of trend, but it does give Greg Kane the opportunity to bitch about that perinneal Baltimore juror, The Lady Who Won't Convict The Black Man.
16 comments:
Well, it's not just Greg Kane. And it's not just due to race, either. Baltimore is a hoodlum-oriented society, much like a penal colony.
You could also ask Judge Themelis or criminal docket Chief Judge Glynn, who said
"The defendants are less and less afraid of the law. They are convinced that if they can get their case to a jury, they'll be found not guilty," said Circuit Judge John M. Glynn. "And that happens often enough to give credence to their view."
It is well known that a Baltimore jury is reluctant to convict someone of a violent crime, he said, and the result is that defendants are defiant in the courtroom and willing to risk a jury trial.
"Many of these jurors simply won't vote to find these kids guilty of violent crimes," Glynn said.
You simply cannot have this high a density of criminally-minded people at large pretending to be citizens. No civilized society can.
And if anyone questions how thoroughly infused with criminality this town is, note that the alleged perp of the latest homicide is a senior C.O. at the City Jail.
Second-worst city in the nation.
Everyone knows the thugs who break the law in the city are bolder and bolder; if the police and prosecutors can't bring tighter cases and more reliable witnesses than they are, they aren't doing their jobs. Anyone going to visit the city can see for themselves a random drug exchange taking place, fight breaking out or possibly even a shooting. These crooks aren't masterminds; I'm sorry if I won't place blame for the crime problem on a bad jury - not even a bad jury, he's talking one out of 12. what happened to getting good witnesses, where are the good prosecutors? No, blame the low-income, less-educated who did their civil duty and had an opinion. Kane is a record on repeat.
One problem: one out of twelve is perfectly sufficient to thwart the intended purpose of a jury.
If you want tighter cases, you need closer surveillance, shorter wait times for police response, and better routine patrol coverage to assure witnesses of their safety.
That means many, many more cops than we have now.
Right now, under the status quo, being a good citizen is a bit of a sucker bet in this city.
Anon,
Have you ever served on a jury in the city? Because if you have you would know each of those stories in the article are completely true. I couldn't believe the excuses I heard when I served on a jury. The case was solid - prosecutor and police did their jobs but we had one juror who didn't want to do their job. Put the blame where it deserves to be - with the citizens of this city.
with The Lady Who Won't Convict the Black Man, gotta voir her dere out of there.
Could a prosecutor dismiss anyone who, say, agreed with a statement like "I believe the city arrests too many black men"? Or is there a standard question they have to ask?
I wouldn't know since no one ever asks me to be on a jury.
from the north Charles Village stabbing:
Yesterday, Benjamin Treat said he was frustrated with the police response. He said that he was not interviewed by detectives until 1:30 p.m. yesterday - about 35 hours after the stabbing.
He said that police interviewed him only after he and his mother called several times.
"In the case of the nonlife-threatening injury, it is not unusual for the detective not to respond to the scene," Clifford said.
Not unusual at all in Baltimore. I never saw a detective when I was stabbed. I'm told there are not enough officers for that luxury.
Cybes, voir dire is very limited in Maryland.
All they ask is if you or a family member has ever been the victim of a crime or charged with a crime. They asked if you know anyone in law enforcement. They also asked if you believe a police officer more or less. There may have been a few more questions but not many. Nothing like you see where you are in the jury box and having to answer indepth questions. Pretty much a joke in my book. After serving I am no longer surprised at the people who walk. I am more surprised when I read that the verdict is guilty.
Consider the following:
Of Baltimore’s 640,000 population, only about 500,00 are of the age of majority, hence eligible for jury duty.
Part I crime incidents recorded are about 44,000 a year and Part II average around 135% of Part I, using Baltimore County as a proxy, so our Part I & II crimes reported are over 100,000 per year. So, we have reason to believe that about 200,000 victimizations occur per year, using data from the ncvs.
While some criminals clearly are responsible for more than one incident, we could reasonably estimate the number of total perps + victims at 250,000 per year. We also have about 50,000 open warrants, so at least 300,000 can be eliminated from the potential jury pool per year, leaving 200,000.
Another 30,000 are in the custody of the Dept. of Corrections or P&P.
So there aren’t a whole lot of allowable jurors here. But the Circuit Court gets 10,000 felony cases per year to try (or oterwise dispose of), which could require as many as 12 jurors each, for a total o0f 120,000.
And that only eliminates the population with a first-hand crime experience in the preceding 52 weeks. Many crimes aren't even investigated (if at all) and charged in that time frame, so last year's incidents remain current in the minds of jurors.
When you consider that the average household size is over two, it becomes clear that .. again... A civilized city simply cannot contain anywhere near the density of criminals we have here.
Murder Sat. night, 2000 block, McHenry in SW. Male shot dead.
"So there aren’t a whole lot of allowable jurors here. But the Circuit Court gets 10,000 felony cases per year to try (or oterwise dispose of), which could require as many as 12 jurors each, for a total o0f 120,000."
Yeah but they only have the capacity to try about 500 felony cases. There's also misdemeanors and civil trials, but not that many.
Yes. What that means is that the court has a constitutional obligation to fail to try 9,500 cases. And the defense attorneys know it.
It means the court and state's attorney are selling into a buyers' market. How low a standard will they have for plea deals? Low enough to eliminate 95% of the docket.
Ridiculous. It's like being told you're free to rule any way you see fit, as long as it's not guilty.
This Circuit Court needs much more capacity. Th best way to do it would be to permit cases to be transferred to surrounding counties when Baltimore City Circuit Court is congested.
Question: would that still be a jury of your peers? It seems it would be ok, because cases are routinely transferred where pretrial publicity makes it impossible to staff a fair jury in the home county.
I'm pretty sure that the residents of Baltimore County would build a wall with machinegun-toting guards around the city/county line before they allowed the refuse from the city to spill into their systems.
Believe me..the refuse has already made it way to the County and into County juries...County rulings are more frequently following in the footsteps of City Courts
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