RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A judge has grilled lawyers for five Baltimore officers about why they should be allowed to sue the city's top prosecutor for charging them in the arrest and death of a young African-American.
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the 4th Circuit repeatedly interrupted the officers' lawyers Wednesday while hearing an appeal by State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. She is asking the court to overturn a judge's decision to allow parts of the officers' lawsuit against her to go to trial.
Mosby's lawyers insist that as a prosecutor, she is immune from the lawsuit.
But the officers' lawyers say she maliciously prosecuted the officers to ease public unrest in Baltimore after Freddie Gray, a young African-American, suffered a fatal injury in a police van. Three were subsequently acquitted and Mosby dropped the remaining cases.
Wilkinson raised his voice several times, saying allowing the officers to sue Mosby is an attempt at "muzzling prosecutors who have publicly expressed grounds for prosecuting police officers."
