Baltimore To Pay $6.4 Million To Freddie Gray's Family

[catswiththum]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

Is it possible that it sold out the defendants to limit its own exposure? I wouldn't doubt it.

Regards,

D-Ray

I agree.

[Zeke]

And Officer William Porter gets a hung jury (mistrial). The city coughed up $6.4M settling for this?

Millions wasted in even GOING to trial.

And -- frankly -- in buying off the family of a criminal.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hung-jury-f...ry?id=35795635

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Zeke

And Officer William Porter gets a hung jury (mistrial). The city coughed up $6.4M settling for this?

Millions wasted in even GOING to trial.

And -- frankly -- in buying off the family of a criminal.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hung-jury-f...ry?id=35795635

Porter's case was the most problematic of the six. He wasn't one of the arresting officers and he wasn't the driver of the paddy wagon so establishing whether he in any way contributed to Gray's death was always going to be a tough hurdle.

It's also important to remember that this was a hung jury, not an acquittal. That means that some jurors thought Porter was guilty and some didn't.

And we may see a retrial too. This is far from over and much too early for you to gloat, Zeke.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Porter's case was the most problematic of the six. He wasn't one of the arresting officers and he wasn't the driver of the paddy wagon so establishing whether he in any way contributed to Gray's death was always going to be a tough hurdle.

It's also important to remember that this was a hung jury, not an acquittal. That means that some jurors thought Porter was guilty and some didn't.

And we may see a retrial too. This is far from over and much too early for you to gloat, Zeke.

Not gloating.

But I don't see why you spend $$$ on such a longshot trial or buying off a criminal's family while you STILL have to manage the prosecution of your own guys with any efficacy.

You spend $$$ in such cases to SAVE $$$, not for any other reason. The only reason you give up $$$ on the front end is for there to be no trial, saving the funds for doing it: especially for acquittal and mistrials.

This thing was stupid from J-U-M-P.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Not gloating.

But I don't see why you spend $$$ on such a longshot trial or buying off a criminal's family while you STILL have to manage the prosecution of your own guys with any efficacy.

You spend $$$ in such cases to SAVE $$$, not for any other reason. The only reason you give up $$$ on the front end is for there to be no trial, saving the funds for doing it: especially for acquittal and mistrials.

This thing was stupid from J-U-M-P.

There you go conflating civil and criminal liability again. The payment to the family discharges the city's civil liability for damages for a wrongful death. It never could discharge anyone's exposure to criminal trial and punishment.

The fact that officials have in other cases paid civil settlements while avoiding prosecuting, leaving the payment to stand as the only 'justice' to be rendered, doesn't make that right.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

There you go conflating civil and criminal liability again. The payment to the family discharges the city's civil liability for damages for a wrongful death. It never could discharge anyone's exposure to criminal trial and punishment.

But simple things like lack of effective prosecution in a criminal trial would -- certainly -- have an affect on any civil $$$ whether admitted to by a jury or not. These things don't occur in vacuums even if we desire them to.

Originally Posted by donquixote99

The fact that officials have in other cases paid civil settlements while avoiding prosecuting, leaving the payment to stand as the only 'justice' to be rendered, doesn't make that right.

But it's the ONLY reason you do it, up front. (Well, unless you think you're hand is SO bad that you cannot possibly get any acquittals or mistrials, criminally.)

Proven as fallacy right off the bat.

Dumb.

Baltimore is spewing $$$ left and right over a criminal.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Zeke

But simple things like lack of effective prosecution in a criminal trial would -- certainly -- have an affect on any civil $$$ whether admitted to by a jury or not. These things don't occur in vacuums even if we desire them to.



But it's the ONLY reason you do it, up front. (Well, unless you think you're hand is SO bad that you cannot possibly get any acquittals or mistrials, criminally.)

Proven as fallacy right off the bat.

Dumb.

Baltimore is spewing $$$ left and right over a criminal.

Dumb? Proven?

You are correct that these things do not occur in vacuums. One reason to do a civil settlement is to squelch public disclosure of evidence that could fuel public demand for criminal prosecution.

And if you think a criminal trial may happen, you can hedge your risk by settling before that happens. A preceding criminal conviction can be considered to more or less prove liability in a subsequent civil action.

And there's always the fact that different officials may be in charge of different aspects, with different goals. The police, for example, may have a strong aversion to any members being prosecuted, while having relatively little concern about someone-else's money being drained for a settlement.

[Ike Bana]

They killed the guy. Something was bad wrong with him. No question in my mind from the video's of them dragging his ass to the van, and there are videos now from several directions. They let him lay there, suffering, until it was too late to save him. Maybe the court system will decide somebody is responsible for not getting him medical attention right away, maybe the court system won't. But I'll say this...

...it fully represents the difficulty in gaining convictions for criminal acts by law enforcement. And, in my opinion, supports the time Anita Alvarez took to put together her case against Jason van Dyke. One thing she was waiting for, which the black caucus vote whores and the community activist opportunists don't want mentioned, was for federal authorities to complete their part of the investigation and for her office to have access to the evidence they have developed. But that's not good enough for the opportunists, who are now screaming for a special prosecutor. I'm sick to the point of nausea with these goddamn people.

Nobody wants this guy convicted more than Anita Alvarez.