Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (D) argued that the police officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death could not get a fair trial in Baltimore on Saturday’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on the Fox News Channel.
Clarke was asked if he believed the officers could get a fair trial in Baltimore, he responded, “no, I don’t. I really don’t…I think it’s too highly charged right now for them to get a fair shot.”
Clarke also stated, “I don’t know what she [prosecutor Marilyn Mosby] knows. I don’t know all the facts of the case. I don’t know what happened in the back of that wagon. But you know yourself, you have to block all that out. She’s supposed to be dispassionate, she’s supposed to be neutral in making this decision. I think she’s too emotionally attached. She’s new.Sshe should have called in some veteran people to help her out, and take her time with this thing, and get it right. Murder’s a tough charge. It’s a higher standard, as you know. And you don’t get a second chance to do this right. If she has to amend these charges, people are going to start to wonder. The justice system will get this right. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Earlier, he strongly criticized the charges brought against six police officers in Freddie Gray’s death, saying, “every cop in America, the American police officer should pay attention to this case. I think these officers are being offered up as human sacrifices. I don’t know what Ms. Mosby knows about this. She may know more about this, she will know more about this than I. But, in the end, a rules violation rising to a murder charge? It’s kind of scary to me.” And “to me, this doesn’t pass the smell test. I listened to the charging news conference yesterday, and it was just too much emotion in there. Some of the language used by Ms. Mosby, she talked about she hears the voices, you know yourself as a veteran prosecutor, I’ve investigated homicides, I’ve been a part of the conferences working with the prosecutor. Most prosecutors take their time with it, especially when you’re talking about a murder charge, they meticulously go over everything. She came out with this a little fast to me, and she’s talking about hearing the voices and telling the youth this is your time. Seemed more like about settling scores than anything else.”
He also said of Mosby, “I don’t want to get into the predicting of it, but she [Mosby] took a crisis situation, and I think she made it worse. I really do.”
Clarke also expressed his agreement with Pirro’s open, and expressed his condolences to the family of an NYPD officer shot earlier that day.
Clarke also said that the celebrations in the streets after the announcement of the charges were “warped. There are no winners in this. You know this, Judge. When the Ferguson decision came out, the New York with Eric Garner, you didn’t see the cops applauding and having victory parties, and high-fiving each other, because there are no winners. You pick up the pieces. You move on. You try to make things better. I thought that was — we saw some of the worst of human-kind having a victory party as this team returned after winning a championship. Just warped, as far as I’m concerned.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett