Good morning. Today in Baltimore City Circuit Court bail reviews: Judge Jackson is presiding. ASA Hartford will represent the state for most of the docket.
CASE 1: a teenager whose attorney points out that holding everyone without bail is unconstitutional and wrong. He has been pre-approved with one of the home detention companies.
ASA Boucher recites the cops' tales as facts, including that they found marijuana and that the teen "exhibited characteristics of an armed person." See @notrivia's thread from yesterday about this bullshit.
Boucher gets pretty lathered up about "illegal substances" and we suddenly want to post this again for no reason at all: baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-19…. He demands that the court "send a message." State is seeking HWOB.
Defense atty reminds the state that bail isn't for sending messages. It's pretty weird that the Progressive Agent Of Change running SAO hasn't already reminded her ASAs about this? Pretrial recommends private home detention. Jackson orders same.
CASE 2: a young man who has had many of his charges dropped by the state since his arrest but is still being kept in jail. He's charged with possessing something that wasn't found on his person and to which he has a questionable connection. He has serious health conditions.
ASA Gallo opens by saying that we're not here to try the facts of the case and then gives cops' tales as "facts." State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 3: another young man with serious health issues. He has contracted COVID in jail. His atty says his conditions need treatment outside of an unsanitary jail. His trial isn't likely to happen until 2022 and may be even later than that.
State has no forensic evidence or eyewitnesses, and the video the state claims to have hasn't been turned over to the defense. An ASA from another jurisdiction (it is not clear why he is arguing this motion) recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB and then asks the ASA to send his regards to the SA for that jurisdiction. Barf.
CASE 4: a man who is being held in jail in a case where the complaining witnesses are refusing to cooperate with the state because they don't want him in jail. He has jobs lined up if he is released and has been pre-approved with one of the home detention companies.
ASA Driggins recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Defense atty adds that the man needs treatment he can't get in jail. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
Tell us again how we need cops and prosecutors to keep us safe. The complaining witnesses' own wishes, and the man's need for treatment, are being completely ignored by the state. The goal is to win, it is never about anyone's safety.
CASE 5: a man with 4 children at home. Cops had an arrest warrant for someone else for an incident this man wasn't involved in, and found him at this man's home. After the arrest, despite knowing he wasn't involved in that incident, they got a warrant for his house.
Defense atty points out there is a significant question as to whether the search of his client's home should have happened. The person they arrested at his house is out on pretrial release, and he is still in jail for items found during this improper search.
The items he is charged with possessing were brought into his house by the person cops arrested, and he didn't know anything about the contents of the bag that person was carrying. ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 6: a man who is being held in jail because he was a back-seat passenger in the car of someone he had just met, when it was pulled over and searched. He's charged with possessing items found in the trunk. He has asthma. Defense atty says no way to know when trial will be.
Defense atty can't meet with him to prepare for trial while he is in jail. He's been to see him but has to wear full hospital garb and can't bring documents to review with him. ASA Boucher recites cops' tales as facts and calls the man a flight risk bc of his country of origin.
State is seeking HWOB. Defense atty reiterates that the items in the trunk were not in proximity to his client, and that his client has a child here, not a flight risk. Pretrial recommends ROR. Judge Jackson orders ROR with pretrial services supervision.
CASE 7: a man with asthma and other serious underlying medical conditions that make him high risk for COVID. Cops searched him on the street during a chaotic scene after people had gotten into a dispute outside a club.
He isn't charged with anything related to the dispute, only charges are related to what was found by the cops. ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 8: a young man with a child at home. He has asthma and the jail isn't providing him with an inhaler. There's no physical evidence or forensics, and the complaining witness has a history of false and unsubstantiated allegations against him. Case hinges on questionable ID.
ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 9: a man who is the primary caretaker for his elderly mom. He was arrested after cops searched his car during a traffic stop. He has lost multiple family members while he's been in jail, and he wants to attend the funeral for another relative who just died.
ASA Boucher recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 10: a young man with asthma and other underlying medical conditions. He was arrested during a traffic stop of a car in which he was a passenger. He is preapproved with one of the home detention companies.
ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 11: a young man with 2 children at home. He has struggled with addiction for many years, and there is an inpatient bed available to him if he is released today. ASA Hartford says state will agree to ROR to treatment, Judge Jackson orders same.
CASE 12: a young man who was tackled to the ground and searched by cops who had been surveiling him via CCTV and claim to have seen him move something from his hoodie to his backpack. 4th amendment issues (obviously).
ASA Boucher recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends private home detention. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 13: a young man who was arrested by cops who claim to have seen him put something in a car. There is a hearing scheduled for a motion to suppress. ASA Gallo recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 14: a man who was arrested after cops "observed" his car for a long period and then searched it and charged him with possessing something found under a seat where someone else was sitting. He caught COVID in jail and was moved to a condemned building in the jail complex.
ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts. State is seeking HWOB. Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
CASE 15: a young man who was chased down by cops who were driving through his neighborhood and shined a flashlight in his face (this does not sound like "public safety" to us). They claim he tossed something but do not claim to have seen or heard him toss it.
ASA Hartford recites cops' tales as facts and talks about drugs cops claim to have found on his person, which is weird because his office isn't prosecuting drugs anymore? And his boss is on TV talking about "this is what policing is?" State is seeking HWOB.
Pretrial recommends HWOB. Judge Jackson orders HWOB.
That's the end of the docket.
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