Hallelujah for Baltimore State's Attorney!

I salute the beautiful professional work and presentation done by State's Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn J. Mosby.

View the video of her press conference this morning here.

Ms Mosby did not use the cover of presenting this case to a Grand Jury but acted with the commendable decisiveness justified by her independent investigation into the facts of this case.

We acknowledge of course, that the charges are as yet unproven and that all six police officer defendants are innocent until proven guilty. But the details of the investigation shared by Ms Mosby suggest that at least one of the officers cooperated with the prosecutor's office.

Ms Mosby's thoroughgoing diligence and the transparency of her office stand in stark contrast to her Cuyahoga County counterpart with reference to the current trial in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, the unarmed duo who died Nov. 29, 2012 after being shot at 137 times by Cleveland police, more than 100 of whom chased the fleeing couple into the neighboring city of East Cleveland. Only one officer, Michael Brelo, has been charged in that case, now on trial before a judge [no jury] with a verdict likely to be handed down in the next week or so. Consider also the slow process of decision-making relative to the death of Tamir Rice, the 12-year old Cleveland boy killed by police last fall.

Of course, there is one consistent thread: the Baltimore Police union has issued a statement saying the police officers were not responsible for Freddy Gray's death but were "diligent" in discharging their duty [to serve and protect?].

It wouldn't surprise me if the Baltimore police union sought to disqualify Mosby from prosecuting this case on the grounds that she is a Tuskegee graduate, an HBCU. One of the best aspects of this situation is that Ms. Mosby comes from five generations of law enforcement that include both of her parents as well as a grandfather!