I’ve been rabbiting on about the need for cities plagued by “gun violence” (i.e. gang bangers banging) to stop the revolutions of their revolving door justice systems. At the same time, I’ve warned readers about the new Baltimore law that would impose a mandatory minimum for simple gun possession. Well, wbaltv.com reports that a judge has taken it upon himself to take that one step further . . .
The man (above) was arrested on Saturday with two other people in a car in Highlandtown. A patrol officer stopped the car after saying he saw and smelled someone smoking marijuana.
“They pull the car over. My client is in the back seat,” said Tony Garcia, defense attorney for the 18-year-old man.
Police searched the car and found a .22-caliber handgun with six live cartridges under the front passenger seat. Nothing illegal was found on his person, police said.
But because he was in the car, the man was charged with two counts of illegal gun possession . . .
At a bail hearing Monday, [defense attorney] Garcia argued that the 18-year-old man has no criminal record and no reason not be released on $10,000 bail. But prosecutors argued for no bail to be set, and Judge Joan Gordon [no picture found] agreed, invoking the city’s crime rate in keeping the man in custody.
“We are in a situation where our murder rate is, last time I looked over the weekend, it was 187, and the violence in our community now with guns, the risk to public safety is so extreme that I am going to keep bail the same,” Gordon said.
Talk about judicial activism; denying an American his right to bail is deeply unconstitutional. It goes against our basic principle of innocent until proven guilty. [Note: no marijuana was found in the car.]
Don’t get to thinking that Judge Gordon is alone in this affront to the Eight Amendment either. Regular readers may remember the case of MIT student Angel De La Cruz, another American with a clear record jailed for simple gun possession, under a Massachusetts law passed in 2010.
Baltimore is considering a one-year mandatory minimum jail sentence for anyone convicted of simple gun possession. That’s wrong on a lot of levels. But in cities where the Constitution is used as a doormat, politics trumps liberty. Like this:
Critics of the proposed gun bill argue it will disproportionately affect young men of color. Multiple sources told the 11 News I-Team that a deal is under discussion to increase funding for the Safe Streets program in Baltimore to win more City Council votes for the gun bill.
Prediction: the new bill won’t curb Baltimore’s “gun violence” one bit. And even if it did, it’s not worth it.