We wrote here about the resignation of Lisa Phelps, a 15-year veteran prosecutor who objected to continuing the prosecution of one of the six officers involved in the arrest and/or transport of Freddie Gray. Now a second prosecutor who, along with Phelps was on the team that would have prosecuted that officer and another, has resigned.
Sarah David declined to specify her reasons for resigning. However, she did say that they are the same reasons as those reported as the circumstances behind Phelps’ departure.
In other words, she too was unhappy, if not disgusted, by Marilyn Mosby’s handling of at least one of the Freddie Gray prosecutions.
The Baltimore Sun notes that, while Mosby and her top deputies presented a united front when they criticized the Freddie Gray trial judge Barry Williams and the police who investigated Gray’s death, neither Phelps nor David appeared at Mosby’s news conference. Apparently, they were loath to be associated with what they probably anticipated would be Mosby’s unprofessional rant.
Now, it seems, they do not want to be associated with Mosby at all. Who can blame them?
David has accepted a job as chief of staff for state Sen. Bobby Zirkin, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the Maryland Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee. Zirkin strongly criticized Mosby’s sour grapes call for changes in the rules pertaining to a criminal defendant’s right to a bench trial. He said, “just because you lose a case doesn’t mean you change the entire framework of defendants’ rights.” He added that Mosby’s idea is “moronic” and has “0.0 chance” of advancing in the legislature.
By leaving Mosby to work for Zirkin, David isn’t just making a statement; she is moving up in the world.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.