Prosecutors: Thousands Of Cases Involving Corrupt BPD Task Force Could Be Thrown Out
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Prosecutors have not yet determined how many criminal cases affected by a corrupt Baltimore Police task force will have to be thrown out, but they believe the number is in the thousands.
The prosecutors' initial review encompassed fewer than 300 cases. That number has skyrocketed and an assistant public defender has a rough estimate of 2,000 affected cases.
FULL COVERAGE OF THE BALTIMORE CITY POLICE GUN TRACE TASK FORCE CORRUPTION CASE
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby says the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force impacted many more cases than first thought.
"It could be, possibly and potentially, thousands of cases," she said.
That's well beyond the 284 initially investigated -- she dropped most of those with 187 of them with ties to rogue cops who admitted to robbing people and going to great lengths to cover it up for years.
RELATED: State's Attorney: 187 Cases Involving Indicted Officers Dropped
Some have also implicated other officers who have not been charged.
"Understanding and recognizing that public safety is our number one priority. We're not just going in and getting rid of every case these officers are involved in," Mosby said.
Assistant Public Defender Debbie Katz Levi said she applauds the state's attorney for looking at more cases, but maintains every case touched by the corrupt cops should be thrown out.
"I have no reason to believe it's over," she said. "We think their mere presence challenges the integrity of every conviction in which they were involved."
It's still possible more officers could face charges in the scandal, throwing more cases in flux.
"We keep telling all of our clients, 'It may take some time, but we're not going to forget about you and we're not going to stop working for justice for you,'" Katz Levi said.
Mosby brushes aside critics who say her office knew about the corrupt cops long ago and failed to act.
"We learned about the criminality of those officers the same time as everyone else. Undermining public trust is a huge problem and we take it very seriously," she said.
RELATED: Did State's Attorney's Office Turn Blind Eye To Corrupt BPD Task Force?
Four people whose cases were part of Mosby's initial review have died.
It is still unclear if the U.S. Attorney's Office will charge any of those officers who were accused on the witness stand of wrong doing.
None of the former GTTF officers have been sentenced, and sentencing dates for some have been pushed back.
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