Baltimore in Chaos - Marilyn Mosby takes charge

"To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across America, I heard your call for 'No Justice, No peace,' " Mosby said. "Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man." Marilyn Mosby

Marilyn Mosby Baltimore prosecutor

Finally! Somebody has taken charge of the chaos in Baltimore following the murder of the young black man, Freddie Gray. Somebody had to step up!  Thankfully, it took the guts of a young 
and Black city prosecutor to rise to this challenge. 

Marilyn Mosby has taken the reigns from Baltimore City's Mayor Stephanie  Rawlings-Blake. The mayor, sadly, has been as ineffective as a proverbial deer caught in he headlights, by her lack of emotion and lethargic response to the growing racial crises, post the police brutality killing of Freddie Gray. Meanwhile, Maryland's Governor Larry Hogan has behaved like a used car salesman, waiting for the bank to call him with a customer's loan approval. He talks a lot, but has nothing to contribute to the crises, except rhetoric.  Obviously, Rawlings Blake and Hogan do not communicate.

So, how's Maryland's Republican Governor going to fulfill his campaign promise to Maryland's voters, now that the state's largest city and economic engine is in a meltdown? Who's going to present the Woodlawn Trophy at the Preakness Race, the second leg of the Triple Crown?  Who's going to build Baltimore back to become the state's economic engine, when at least 20 percent of the city is trashed and burned?

Moreover, Governor Hogan hid in the equivalent of an emergency bomb shelter when he told the news media how he waited for Rawlings-Blake to call him before enacting the state's National Guard. Otherwise, if he'd waited any longer to declare the emergency, the burning of Baltimore would've turned the city into matchsticks. Then, like a rerun of the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", former Governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley shows, up after cancelling speeches in Europe, because he wanted to walk the streets of the burned out city.....and do what? It's like Rawlings-Blake, Hogan and O'Malley are all looking for two "big W's", meaning "who is responsible for this chaos?" and "what happened that I can blame on somebody else?".

Except, this Baltimore tragedy isn't a parody. Rather, it's frighteningly real.  

For a fact, Freddie Gray did not deserve to die. 

There's nothing in the universe of possibilities that caused Gray to deserve to have his neck broken and his spine severed during an arrest, without cause.

So, here's what the Baltimore City Attorney Marilyn Mosby said:

Freddie Gray death ruled homicide; officers charged

By Michael Pearson, Ben Brumfield and Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
Six Baltimore police officers will face charges in the death of Freddie Gray, the city's prosecutor said Friday in an unexpected announcement that brought cheers from protesters and words of protest from the police union.

The announcement by Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby left no doubt about what she thinks happened April 12, when Gray was arrested: The 25-year-old died, she said, after suffering "a severe and critical neck injury" while being transported "handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained" inside a police van. It is against police policy to transport a prisoner without proper restraints such as a seat belt.

BALTIMORE — Baltimore’s chief prosecutor (Marilyn Mosby) charged six police officers on Friday with crimes including murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray, a striking and surprisingly swift turn in a case that has drawn national attention to police conduct.

The state’s attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn J. Mosby, filed the charges almost as soon as she received a medical examiner’s report that ruled Mr. Gray’s death a homicide, and a day after the police concluded their initial investigation and handed over their findings. Officials had cautioned that it could take considerable time for her office to complete its own investigation and decide whether to prosecute.

Five of the six officers are in custody, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said later.

Mosby said Gray suffered fatal spinal injuries on April 12,while being transported in a police van, where he was taken because he was somehow involved in a yet to be fully explained incident.

The most serious charges were brought against Officer Caesar Goodson, who was driving the transport van that brought Mr. Gray to the Western District police station after his April 12, arrest. Mr. Goodson, 45 years old, was charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

Officers William Porter, 25, Lt. Brian Rice, 41, and Sgt. Alicia White, 30, were each charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Officers Edward Nero, 29, and Garrett Miller, 26, were charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office. (News is reporting the charged police officers were released on bail on Saturday May 2nd).

It's unclear how Mosby's firm response to the homicide of Freddie Gray will impact Baltimore's violence and demonstrations, but she certainly has put a sense of awe into the city.  

Who could have guessed that a young Black woman (35 years old) would be so decisive? She's especially riveting, when contrasted against Rawlings-Blake, Hogan and O'Malley, who acted like movie stars in a grade B-movie rehearsal. Thankfully, Mosby finally took charge of the entire saga.  

By "throwing the book" at the six police involved in the killing, Mosby knows the charges must be given due process and those officers have seen their jobs disappear, forever.

Governor Larry Hogan hides in emergency shelter shows up in crises at 5 AM

Governor Larry Hogan says he'll moves his office into Baltimore after the city's April 2015, race riots. In this visible location, he'll have to answer a lot of questions about how his administration intends to build a better city.  

I grew up in Baltimore. It's a city with all the attributes of a world class community. Unfortunately, in my lifetime, I haven't seen Baltimore rise to its potential. Now, the citizens have a chance to create a new Baltimore.  They have the resources, but do they have the willpower to do so?

Maryland's Governor Larry Hogan has never held public office. Well he's up to his ears in challenges now that Maryland's largest city is on the brink of a second incendiary historic episode since 1968, this time under his Republican political leadership.

Governor Hogan waited until Baltimore's Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called him for help, before responding to the growing race riots after Freddie Grey's funeral. Protocol may require the mayor to call for the Governor to act. Nevertheless, the fact is, Hogan didn't demonstrate compassion when he played a "you call me before I call you" game, especially when such humanitarian need was waiting for his leadership.  Moreover, he issued his order while inside the security of an emergency shelter rather than standing alongside the Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Now, Governor Hogan says he'll open an office in Baltimore.  

This is a very good idea. But the office move will be an empty gesture if Hogan's doesn't communicate with the Mayor, in City Hall.  

(I'm wondering if the political environment in the Annapolis State House is so toxic that Hogan prefers to work in the burned out streets of West Baltimore,  rather than stay in his office.)

What I know for sure is that Governor Hogan's lack of elected political experience is clearly not helping Baltimore. He's faced with a racial crises, after Freddie Grey's death, yet he's treating it like a high school principal issuing a school wide detention policy. He issued his emergency order for the National Guard intervention while speaking from an emergency shelter.  His visit to Baltimore, to view the race riot carnage, took place at 5 AM, when there was nobody around to speak to him about what he saw or what he intended to do about the destruction.

Fox News reports:  

Maryland governor promises to protect Baltimore as new looting is reported

(CNN) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan -- an upstart politician who has never held public office -- is confronting one of the most serious challenges his state has endured in decades.

Just three months into the job (Julie's note - Governor Hogan made sure the public knew he'd only been in office for 90 days when he issued his emergency order....!), the Republican governor is playing a key role in regaining control of Baltimore, his state's largest city, which has been gripped by violence in the wake of the death of a 25-year-old black man in police custody earlier this month. 

Other governors, including Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, have stumbled in responding to similar violence in their states. Hogan seems determined to avoid a similar fate but the riots exposed tension between the governor and Baltimore's Democratic mayor -- a relationship that will be crucial in the days ahead.

"This is not the Baltimore we know and love," Hogan said during a press conference Tuesday.

Hogan signed an executive order Monday declaring a state of emergency in Baltimore, deploying the National Guard and 5,000 state and local law enforcement officers to the city. The governor had the order ready as early as Saturday when the first signs of unrest began, Hogan's office told CNN.  (Julie's note- this report makes no sense to me. Where's the proof? The Governor can say anything he feels like, but if he really had an executive order ready to use, then he should've called the Baltimore Mayor with this information.)

In an interview with CNN late Monday night, Hogan said he was waiting for a request from Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake before declaring the state of emergency and activating the National Guard.

"We've been standing by in preparation just in case the violence escalated—which it did. When the mayor called, we activated," 

When pressed on why he waited to sign the order during an earlier press conference, Hogan suggested that Rawlings-Blake was initially unresponsive to his office's request for action.

"We were trying to get in touch with the mayor for some time," Hogan said. "We are glad she finally called us."

The governor said he had moved his top staff and cabinet from the state capital Annapolis to Baltimore Tuesday in order to direct operations from there.

Prior to the riots, Hogan worked with Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore officials on an economic revitalization program, but has proposed reducing the city's reliance on state aid.

Hogan, 58, vowed to make Baltimore a centerpiece of his economic agenda after his election, telling the Baltimore Sun that he wanted the city to become a "driver of the whole state."

"The city's declining rather than improving," Hogan told the Sun. "We're going to try to turn that around. ... We're basically going to have to find a way to incentivize people to move into Baltimore City."

One of just two Republican governors to be elected in the state since 1969, Hogan enjoyed a surprise electoral victory last November in the traditionally Democratic stronghold, besting Democrat Anthony Brown by 3.8 percentage points.

Hogan, a businessman who led a fiscal policy increase group called "Change Maryland," stunned political circles in deep blue Maryland with his success in last year's mid-term elections. His opponent outspent him four-fold, and Democrats enjoy a majority in both chambers of the state legislature.

While his campaign for the governor's post was Hogan's first foray into elected office, he grew up surrounded by politics. His father, Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., represented Maryland's fifth congressional district for three terms and was county executive of Prince George's County until 1982. The governor's younger brother, Patrick N. Hogan, is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. (Julie's note - this Fox News article summary makes no sense. It's like saying 'I might not be a doctor but my father was one'.)