“Schooled and learned lawyers in the state of Baltimore are coming out using the word ‘disbarment,’ for [Mosby’s] behavior,” said Fox News host Megyn Kelly last night, angrily denouncing Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby for incendiary rhetoric that is “wrong” and a “problem.”
Attorneys representing the six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have filed a motion to move the case out of Baltimore.
“The defense says the officers ‘cannot receive a fair and impartial trial in this city,’ ” Kelly explained on her Fox News show last night. “And one of their primary complaints: this attorney, the D.A. Marilyn Mosby. They argue she has an anti-cop bias; that she has prejudiced this case with some of her very public statements; and that she should recuse herself in the interests of justice.”
Kelly then played a fresh new clip of Mosby, in the days before the initial investigation had been completed, saying that the “criminal justice system has historically and disproportionately affected people of color” and that she would “pursue justice by any and all means necessary.”
“We knew it would happen, and sure enough it did,” said Kelly to senior judicial correspondent and former judge Andrew Napolitano. “She is now exhibit No. 1 in the defense motion to get this case kicked out of Baltimore, to get her off of this case! And they’re pushing back on her request to shut them up, after she made these comments, not to mention the other ones we’ve been playing … the defense has come out both guns blazing tonight.”
“The civil unrest that occurred makes it unlikely that these police officers could get a fair trial in the city of Baltimore, even if Mother Teresa were the prosecutor,” said Napolitano. “But instead you have a prosecutor who acts and sounds like she’s a political candidate for office — not an office involving the administration of justice but an office involving the administration of the government.”
Napolitano continued: “Language like that — though not unlawful and protected by the First Amendment — has the insidious and deep-seeded effect of affecting the potential jurors and causing them to believe that the defendants are probably guilty. Now, if she does that herself, it is clear that there has to be a change of venue, meaning the trial has to be tried in another part of the state of Maryland and the jurors have to be drawn from that other part of the state. The question is, can she fairly administer justice?”
Kelly explained that if the trial gets moved to another county, Mosby would still be the prosecutor, even though “she appears to be a problem.”
“Schooled and learned lawyers in the state of Baltimore are coming out using the word ‘disbarment,’ for [Mosby’s] behavior, when it comes to a D.A.,” said Kelly heatedly.
Earlier Wednesday, Marilyn Mosby’s personal Twitter account had favorited two tweets, one of which referred to “those 6 THUG cops” and another that praised Mosby’s handling of the case and said she “INFURIATES a certain kind of white person,” the Daily Caller reported. Mosby’s office later claimed that her Twitter account had been hacked and she had not favorited the tweets.
“I haven’t seen anything [from Mosby] that rises to disbarment, which means taking her license away forever,” noted Napolitano. “But I have seen behavior which would cause me … were I the judge in this case I would seriously question her competence to try the case in a fair manner.
“Because her goal is not conviction, her goal is justice,” said Napolitano.
“And justice, what she said there was ‘by any and all means necessary,’ ” said Kelly.
“That’s a little threatening,” said Napolitano.
“Wrong, madam,” said a very angry Kelly, waving her finger. “Wrong! Any and all means necessary? That’s what the defense does; they pull out every stop in the book to try to get their client acquitted! She has a greater obligation, and judge, what she is telegraphing is ‘I am gonna get them, I’m going to get them!’ ”
Mosby’s “efforts to silence” the defense by using “incendiary” rhetoric while “she herself is on a campaign soapbox are making it impossible for the judge even to address this issue. This is fair game: fair game at her, and fair game for defense counsel,” said Napolitano.
“Even if the judge does not think that her comments warrant her being kicked off the case, he or she will have to see how she has poisoned the jury pool she wanted to try this case in front of!” Kelly said, angrily spitting out the word “poisoned.”
“If she were a serious trial lawyer, she would have made a motion for the change of venue herself,” said Napolitano. “The worst case scenario for her is a conviction in Baltimore and then a reversal by an appellate court because of the prejudice that she personally caused.”
