Baltimore police body-camera video released last week is raising additional concerns as prosecutors announced Friday afternoon plans to drop a number of cases.Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby identified 123 cases associated with the officers mishandling evidence as seen on the body-camera video. Mosby said 34 of the cases will be dismissed, and 77 others remain under review."In the review process, we not only evaluate the merits of each individual case, but we have attempted to identify alternative ways to prove those cases where there is independent corroborative evidence. And where these officers are material and necessary witnesses, we are dismissing those cases which rely exclusively on the credibility of these officers," Mosby said. "We are set to dismiss 34 cases. We identified 12 viable cases where all 12 of those defendants are incarcerated.""The cases that have been dismissed thus far or are scheduled to be dismissed are felony drug cases or free-standing possession of firearm cases. And we made a decision in every one of those cases after a very thorough review of the facts, that we did not have a case to prosecute without the testimony of one or all of the three officers," said Antonio Gioia, chief counsel at the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office.Richard Pinheiro is the officer whose own body camera shows him mishandling evidence. He remains suspended, and his two colleagues are on desk duty.The video dates back to Jan. 24. It was flagged by the Public Defender's Office just before a drug case was going to trial this month. What the officer is seen doing remains under internal investigation.Last week, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called the video a serious allegation of police misconduct and pledged to get to the bottom of it.Mosby declined to characterize what she believes the police body-camera video reveals. She said the case review is the right thing to do."Clearly, there is a credibility issue that's impacting other cases, and so that is essentially what we are here to report ... based upon those credibility (issues), we have not made a distinction about what actually what took place," Mosby said.Mosby also said there's new video that, in addition to the one already under investigation, raises questions about the credibility of the officers involved."Earlier this week, it was brought to my attention that an additional video raises concerns with one of our prosecutors and further review of the matter. We subsequently referred the matter to the Baltimore City Internal Affairs Division of the Police Department," Mosby said.Mosby did not provide details of the other police body-camera video that is raising concern.The Police Department released a statement, saying:"The criminal case mentioned today by the state's attorney involves two arrests and the recovery of drugs from a car during a traffic stop. There is a gap in the Body Worn Camera (BWC) video that occurs after the recorded recovery of drugs and before the final recovery of additional drugs. We are investigating the incident."Our Police Department has invited a heightened level of scrutiny since we have adopted one of the largest BWC programs in the nation. Our transparency efforts are ongoing as we strive to train our police officers with this new technology. When shortcomings are apparent, we will investigate and act accordingly."Since the inception of our BWC program, over 110,000 hours of police activity has been captured. We have disciplined our police officers, counseled them, and trained them in accordance with best practices associated with this technology. We remain committed to getting it right. Our relationship with the community depends on it."
BALTIMORE — Baltimore police body-camera video released last week is raising additional concerns as prosecutors announced Friday afternoon plans to drop a number of cases.
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby identified 123 cases associated with the officers mishandling evidence as seen on the body-camera video. Mosby said 34 of the cases will be dismissed, and 77 others remain under review.
"In the review process, we not only evaluate the merits of each individual case, but we have attempted to identify alternative ways to prove those cases where there is independent corroborative evidence. And where these officers are material and necessary witnesses, we are dismissing those cases which rely exclusively on the credibility of these officers," Mosby said. "We are set to dismiss 34 cases. We identified 12 viable cases where all 12 of those defendants are incarcerated."
"The cases that have been dismissed thus far or are scheduled to be dismissed are felony drug cases or free-standing possession of firearm cases. And we made a decision in every one of those cases after a very thorough review of the facts, that we did not have a case to prosecute without the testimony of one or all of the three officers," said Antonio Gioia, chief counsel at the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office.
Richard Pinheiro is the officer whose own body camera shows him mishandling evidence. He remains suspended, and his two colleagues are on desk duty.
The video dates back to Jan. 24. It was flagged by the Public Defender's Office just before a drug case was going to trial this month. What the officer is seen doing remains under internal investigation.
Last week, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called the video a serious allegation of police misconduct and pledged to get to the bottom of it.
Mosby declined to characterize what she believes the police body-camera video reveals. She said the case review is the right thing to do.
"Clearly, there is a credibility issue that's impacting other cases, and so that is essentially what we are here to report ... based upon those credibility (issues), we have not made a distinction about what actually what took place," Mosby said.
Mosby also said there's new video that, in addition to the one already under investigation, raises questions about the credibility of the officers involved.
"Earlier this week, it was brought to my attention that an additional video raises concerns with one of our prosecutors and further review of the matter. We subsequently referred the matter to the Baltimore City Internal Affairs Division of the Police Department," Mosby said.
Mosby did not provide details of the other police body-camera video that is raising concern.
The Police Department released a statement, saying:
"The criminal case mentioned today by the state's attorney involves two arrests and the recovery of drugs from a car during a traffic stop. There is a gap in the Body Worn Camera (BWC) video that occurs after the recorded recovery of drugs and before the final recovery of additional drugs. We are investigating the incident.
"Our Police Department has invited a heightened level of scrutiny since we have adopted one of the largest BWC programs in the nation. Our transparency efforts are ongoing as we strive to train our police officers with this new technology. When shortcomings are apparent, we will investigate and act accordingly.
"Since the inception of our BWC program, over 110,000 hours of police activity has been captured. We have disciplined our police officers, counseled them, and trained them in accordance with best practices associated with this technology. We remain committed to getting it right. Our relationship with the community depends on it."
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You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.