Can officers in Freddie Gray case get impartial juries in Baltimore?
Nearly five months after Freddie Gray died from injuries sustained in police custody 鈥� triggering days of rioting in Baltimore 鈥� the trials of the six police officers involved in his arrest are expected to test the impartiality of the city鈥檚 residents and the US legal system.
Judge Barry Williams ruled Wednesday that the officers will be tried separately, but a bigger decision looms. In a hearing next week, the judge will address a defense motion to move the trials out of Baltimore 鈥� a common defense tactic in high-profile cases like this one. Since the trials are in state court, they would be moved to another Maryland county.
The response to Mr. Gray鈥檚 death, from both the public and the media, 鈥渨as unrelenting and overwhelmingly negative,鈥� the defense says .
鈥淭he confluence of these circumstances creates an insurmountable prejudice to these Officers finding fair and impartial juries in Baltimore City ...,鈥� the motion continues.
Several legal experts are not so sure, however. A. Dwight Pettit, a veteran Baltimore defense attorney, says there are two reasons that the defense鈥檚 arguments for a venue change are 鈥渘ot valid.鈥�
The argument that pretrial publicity has been too great to ensure an impartial jury is nullified, Mr. Pettit says, because the case 鈥渉as got worldwide publicity.鈥�
鈥淭hat is not cured by taking it from one jurisdiction to the next,鈥� he adds.
A second argument 鈥� that the court wouldn鈥檛 be able to find enough jurors able to convince the judge that they will be fair and impartial 鈥� 鈥渋nsults the population of Baltimore City,鈥� he says.
Many prospective jurors will automatically disqualify themselves by acknowledging that they have a bias, Pettit says. Of those left, he thinks the 鈥渧oir dire鈥� process 鈥� in which the judge and two legal teams personally question each prospective juror 鈥� will result in enough qualified jurors.
鈥淚 think we will find many people who can say, 鈥楯udge, I鈥檓 going to be fair,鈥� 鈥� he says.
The process has produced juries for high-profile cases before. Just this year, amid widespread skepticism, a federal court in Boston was able to impanel a jury for the death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
But some legal experts aren鈥檛 so sure that fair and impartial juries can be found for the Baltimore trials. Daniel Medwed, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, says that the citywide curfew enforced in response to the riots after Gray鈥檚 death differentiates the trials from other high-profile cases.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting test case because every potential juror was directly affected due to the curfew, and that鈥檚 unusual,鈥� Professor Medwed says.
鈥淚t certainly doesn鈥檛 mean that the defense deserves a change of venue,鈥� he continues. 鈥淚t just means that the defense has a stronger argument than is often the case.鈥�
If the venue change motion succeeds, it wouldn鈥檛 be the first time a trial of Baltimore police officers has been moved out of the city.
In November 2007, Gerard Mungo Jr., a 7-year-old at the time, was arrested for being on a dirt bike and was later handcuffed to a bench at police headquarters. His mother, Lakisa Dinkins 鈥� who was arrested at her sister鈥檚 home 11 days after her son鈥檚 arrest 鈥� later sued the police department for more than $700,000 in compensatory damages, contending that the two incidents left her son and his older brother with emotional and psychiatric problems that required professional help.
The trial was moved out of Baltimore to neighboring Howard County, a majority-white suburb, because of 鈥減ervasive, negative, continuing and prejudicial鈥� pretrial publicity.
The defense motion to relocate the current trials references Ms. Dinkins鈥檚 suit, saying that the state Court of Special Appeals held that there was 鈥渞easonable ground to believe that the defendants could not receive a fair trial in Baltimore City, even with the assistance of voir dire.鈥�
The judge in the Dinkins case found that the officers acted unlawfully in arresting the 7-year-old, but the Howard County jury decided the family any money for damages.
Pettit was one of Dinkins鈥檚 attorneys, and he thinks the outcome of that case illustrates a flaw in the Maryland legal system that could compromise the new trials if they are moved out of Baltimore.
In the Dinkins case, the city court鈥檚 administrative judge made the decision on the new venue, Pettit says. There was no chance for an appeal. The jury that heard the case featured only one African-American, he adds.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing in [state] law for any type of hearing to determine the demographics of where the case is going,鈥� he says.
If Judge Williams decides that the current trials should be moved, the decision on the new location would fall to Judge W. Michel Pierson, the administrative judge for the court.
Pettit believes that the only jurisdiction outside Baltimore with a population 鈥� and thus a jury pool 鈥� analogous to the city is Prince George鈥檚 County, a suburb outside Washington, D.C., that is majority African-American.
鈥淚f it were to be moved,鈥� he says, 鈥渋f it鈥檚 sent to any other county in Maryland, I think the case would in all senses be over.鈥�
Douglas Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland鈥檚 Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore, has written extensively about the differences between all-white and multiracial juries.
鈥淗istorically, all-white juries and predominantly white juries have failed to convict both police officers and white defendants for homicide crimes against African-Americans and other people of color,鈥� says Professor Colbert, who attended the court hearing Wednesday.
鈥淭he sad truth,鈥� he continues, 鈥渋s that it鈥檚 only a multiracial jury that will be able to decide this case on the evidence and not on impermissible factors.鈥�
He adds, 鈥淚 genuinely believe that Baltimore鈥檚 criminal justice system will produce 12 fair and impartial jurors.鈥�
A jury inside or outside Baltimore could carry different kinds of biases, points out Robert Kane, a criminologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia. A jury outside the city 鈥渕ight have people who will not listen to evidence, believing that the police are always right.鈥�
鈥淚 think the City of Baltimore should at least try to select an unbiased jury,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 jury of last resort is a jury from out of town, but I don鈥檛 know that we鈥檙e at the last resort yet.鈥�
