Justice Shouldn’t Step Aside for Anger over Freddie Gray Case: New at Reason

Local prosecutors, being elected to office, are subject to the rule of the people. Their decisions, however, are not—or at least they shouldn’t be. Any state’s attorney or district attorney worthy of the office gives public opinion about particular cases exactly the weight it deserves: zero. 

If you need evidence for the wisdom of that approach, take the decision of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to indict six police officers in connection with the arrest of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old African-American’s death from spinal injuries while in police custody had echoes of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. It set off protests and riots that went on for days. 

Mosby helped restore calm by announcing the charges less than two weeks after Gray’s death. “To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace,’” she said then, promising “to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.” In the strife-torn city, reported The New York Times, her “surprise announcement did seem to bring a palpable sense of relief.” But, as Steve Chapman notes, it has failed so far to lead to any convictions.

View this article.