Maryland

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-cases-20170301-story.html

Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby will struggle with cases involving indicted officers

By Doug Donovan and Justin Fenton•Contact Reporters
The Baltimore Sun
March 1, 2017, 7:39 PM

The Baltimore Police Department's elite gun-crime unit had a busy year in 2016. Court records show the seven officers were involved in hundreds of criminal cases. But federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the members of the Gun Trace Task Force were also busy conducting their own criminal enterprise: stealing cash from innocent people and suspects alike, and bilking taxpayers by filing fraudulent overtime claims. A grand jury indicted the officers on federal racketeering charges, prosecutors said Wednesday. They have been taken into custody pending court appearances.

Now many of the felony gun cases the officers helped build might be in legal jeopardy, threatening the progress police commanders have claimed against illegal weapons during a historic spike in violent crime. "Today's federal indictment of several BPD officers will have pervasive implications on numerous active investigations and pending cases in our office," Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement.
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Veteran defense attorney Gerard P. Martin predicted "a mess at the state's attorney's office." "They're going to have to review every case these officers were involved in," he said.
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The impact was immediately visible on Wednesday, as Mosby's office dropped a case that involved some of the officers. Maurice Stanton, 28, was arrested on three gun charges last August. An assistant state's attorney was discussing a plea deal for Stanton in Circuit Court on Wednesday when she received a text message about the indictments, Baltimore Deputy Public Defender Natalie Finegar said. (snip) The judge declared a recess, and prosecutors dropped the case.
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