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Political rushes to judgment
hurt public safety
by Sean Van Leeuwen
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Sean Van Leeuwen
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Last week, a Baltimore judge
acquitted Baltimore P.D. Officer Caesar Goodson
of all charges in the latest trial stemming from the April 2015 in-custody death of Freddie Gray. Officer Goodson was found not guilty on charges which included second-degree murder, three counts of manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. This was yet another reversal for Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, who threw everything but the kitchen sink against Goodson. Officer Goodson was the third of six officers to be tried. The previous trials resulted in an acquittal and a hung jury.
Gray died in April 2015, after suffering a broken neck following his arrest and subsequent transport in a police van driven by Officer Goodson, who had no part in the arrest. Prosecutor Mosby immediately took to the airwaves to prematurely denounce the conduct of the officers involved in Gray's arrest and transport, ultimately charging six of them with crimes stemming from the incident. Mosby alleged Officer Goodson, who was transporting Gray to jail, failed to seat-belt him and gave him a "rough ride" in retaliation for him resisting arrest by other officers. The prosecution tried to show Officer Goodson drove recklessly and/or negligently, resulting in Gray falling against or striking the interior of the prisoner van, leading to the injuries Gray ultimately succumbed to. Judge Barry G. Williams, who oversaw the case called the use of the term, "rough ride" by the prosecution, "inflammatory" and called their legal theory of retaliation, "mere speculation." The utter lack of evidence of any criminal conduct by Officer Goodson led the trial judge to "dismantle" and "destroy" the prosecution's version of events according to Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Rodricks, who covered the case.
Mosby's decision to bury multiple officers under an avalanche of criminal charges was perhaps politically expedient in the wake of rioting that ravaged the city following Gray's funeral. The results of the first three trials should now make it clear to Mosby and everyone else, it was also just plain wrong. Mosby's rhetoric, such as the use of the term, "rough ride," to paint all the officers involved in the case with a broad brush, implying conspiracy and corruption has done long-lasting harm to police nationwide and communities' relationships with their officers.
The acquittal of Officer Goodson who faced the most serious criminal charges in Freddie Gray's death, underscores two key elements of the case: the prosecution's politically fueled rush to judgement and the critical need for law enforcement officers to have a collective defense against malicious prosecutions.
Law enforcement officers have a solemn duty to protect the public, a duty which ALADS members believe in and exemplify every day. We do not support actions which violate that duty. However, we do support careful, deliberate investigations that are motivated by a search for the truth, not politics.
Peace officers are under more intense scrutiny today than ever before. Virtually every action we take is presumed by some to be an over-reaction or brutality. There is a belief that we should be able to handle every encounter without laying hands on a suspect or drawing a weapon. As Heather McDonald documents in her
just released book
, The War on Cops: How the Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe these continual misguided attacks only cause police to pull back from proactive policing and as a result crime soars.
An example of how unhinged from reality these attacks have become is the anti-police rant published by the
Washington Post
, following Officer Goodson's not guilty verdict.
The author, Jon O. Newman, is a sitting Federal Appellate judge, who urged Congress to abolish qualified immunity for law enforcement, and to appoint United States Attorneys to bring civil suits against police officers on behalf of plaintiffs. Clearly, this jurist does not understand or more likely refuses to accept the rationale for qualified immunity which states if a police officer's conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights a reasonable person would have known of, there should not be civil liability.
In fact, the judge in Officer Goodson's case, who unlike Newman, listened to and gave careful consideration to all the evidence ruled, "Having found that a reasonable person would act similarly to the defendant, the Court does not find that his actions were reckless and, therefore, finds that there is no criminal liability under the theory that the defendant's failure to act recklessly endangered Mr. Gray."
If you want to see
active policing
plummet, tell law enforcement officers they will be civilly liable for conduct which no reasonable person could have foreseen was a violation of any rights!
Here's an idea. Let's make Federal Appellate Court judges civilly liable for every decision they have reversed by the Supreme Court. Unlike cops, who have to make real time decisions affecting legal rights, often under life-threatening circumstances, judges have the luxury of time, law clerks and quiet, safe, well-appointed chambers to make sure their legal decisions are correct. Why shouldn't they be accountable for rendering legal opinions the Supreme Court determines are wrong?
The answer is, unlike cops, judges (like Newman) have, "...absolute immunity from Section 1983 damage actions for their 'judicial' acts." It's disingenuous of Newman to advocate taking away "qualified" immunity from the police when the U.S. Supreme Court has already given "absolute" immunity to him.
Law enforcement unions and associations such as ALADS must speak out to protect cops from malicious, politically motivated prosecutions and inflammatory anti-cop rhetoric which is slanted, inaccurate or just lies. Our strength comes from our numbers and our collective ability to band together to support each other and the rightness of the job all of us do to protect the public.
Sean Van Leeuwen is Vice President of Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. ALADS is the collective bargaining agent and represents more than 8,200 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators working in Los Angeles County. Sean can be reached at [email protected].
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