In the News
Serge, Clarke and ASA “Tasha B” Pick Their Five Favorite Courtroom Movies
Assistant State’s Attorney Natasha Blount (“Tasha”) joins Serge and Clarke to debate the best five courtroom movies of all time and one agreed upon honorable mention. Hear Tasha’s persuasive reason for not including “A Few Good Men” in her list. But it is Tasha’s number one movie that leaves Clarke speechless — something more than…
Read MoreMaryland State Police Seek to Fire Trooper of the Year—Part II
Part II of the podcast: Maryland State Police v Trooper of the Year. In this episode Clarke, Serge and TFC Kashef Khan talk about a bizarre trial board where the prosecutor’s first witness against TFC Khan was TFC Khan. When Clarke Ahlers called an IAD investigator to the stand in the defense case, an Assistant…
Read MoreMaryland State Police Seek to Fire Trooper of the Year
Serge and I discuss the backward world of the Maryland State Police with one of its own. You will hear from a “brown skin Muslim” who was awarded the 2019 statewide “Trooper of the Year” by Governor Hogan. But the next year—when he again outperformed every other trooper—this Trooper First Class was told that a…
Read MoreKim Potter is Sentenced; Teens in NJ Receive Disparate Treatment at Hands of Police
In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss two unrelated events: (1) the sentencing of former police officer Kim Potter after her conviction for manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright, and (2) an unfolding story of disparate treatment of two teenagers — one Caucasian and one African American — by police officers in a…
Read MoreBlack History Month: A Living History Interview with the Hon. F. L. Antonin, Ret. (Part 1)
In honor of Black History Month, Serge and Clarke interview the third African American woman appointed to the Superior Court of New Jersey. Serge was able to secure this interview because Frances Lawrence Antonin, who helped break barriers for African American female attorneys especially in New Jersey, is his mother. Clarke recommends this interview for…
Read MoreA Look at U.S. v. Mosby
On January 13, 2022, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced a four-count federal indictment against the Hon. Marilyn Mosby, the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. There are two counts of perjury related to making a withdrawal of funds from her retirement account after alleging a Covid hardship and two counts of…
Read MoreThe Tragic Circumstances of Sgt Rittmanic and Ofc Bailey in the Village of Bradley, Illinois
On December 29, 2021 at 9:41 PM, two Village of Bradley police officers — Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and Officer Tyler Bailey — responded to a Comfort Inn motel for a call about barking dogs left in a car. While investigating this minor complaint, Ofc. Bailey was shot in the head; Sgt. Rittmanic killed with her…
Read MoreOfc. Keona Holley is the latest casualty of the war on police
On December 16, 2021 on Pennington Avenue in Curtis Bay, BPD Officer Keona Holley, on-duty, in uniform, and sitting in a marked Baltimore police cruiser was shot multiple times by two men. The men then fled, only to shoot and kill a civilian in Baltimore about 90 minutes later. The Baltimore Police Department has arrested…
Read MoreOur Thoughts on the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
On August 23, 2020, a white Kenosha police officer, Rusten Sheskey, shot a black man, Jacob Blake, in the back during a call for service. Riots erupted. Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year old armed with a rifle, shot three men during the riots, killing two. Many were outraged and condemned Rittenhouse as a “white supremacist.” Then-candidate…
Read MoreThe Moab Police and the Gabby Petito / Brian Laundrie Incident 8/12/21
The body of Gabrielle (“Gabby”) Petito has been recovered and ruled a homicide. Fifteen days before the likely date of her death, Moab (Utah) Police responded to a reported assault. Their handling of the assault has been widely criticized by domestic violence experts and law enforcement sources. In this episode, Serge Antonin and Clarke Ahlers,…
Read MoreThe Judge Jonathan Newell Matter
On September 11, 2021, FBI agents attempted to arrest Maryland Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Newell. The agents entered his residence in Caroline County, Maryland and found the judge dead from a single gunshot wound. The death has been determined to be a suicide. Serge and Clarke discuss this unusual case and the allegation of child…
Read MorePart 2 of Evaluating the Use of Force Policy of the Metropolitan Police Department
In this episode Serge Antonin and Clarke Ahlers attempt to figure out what a police officer in the District of Columbia may do to accomplish the handcuffing and disarming of a felony suspect in custody. As the listener will hear, the police and procedure of the Metropolitan Police Department is almost unintelligible. Please see the…
Read MoreEvaluating the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Use of Force Policy.
On August 8, 2021, three officers (later joined by others) attempted to arrest a man in the 1500 block of U Street in the Anacostia neighborhood. The man was suspected of distributing drugs and was believed to possess a handgun. As two officers held the man’s arms and attempted to handcuff him, another officer punched…
Read MoreShot in the Line of Duty—Our First Survivor Story
Serge and Clarke interview our first guest, Police Officer “J.B.” JB, who is still working as a police officer, describes the evening that he and a partner were shot by a drug suspect that JB was chasing. JB describes his reaction in the seconds after the shots were fired, the effect that the crime had…
Read MoreRapid Response to Active Shooters
First recorded in March of 2021, Serge and Clarke evaluate evolving police tactics of response to “active shooters.” The lexicon, history, and tactics are evaluated from the 1966 Texas Tower in Austin to the 2021 Boulder, Colorado grocery store mass shooting. For those familiar with Howard County, Maryland, Serge and Clarke also discuss the 2014…
Read MoreDefunding the Police: A 1935 idea is partially realized in 2021
Serge and Clarke discuss the original idea of W.E.B. Du Bois that is now the slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. Serge argues for more money for police agencies, while Clarke — who disagrees with the basic idea of “defunding the police” — argues that police departments need to use…
Read MoreGun Violence Claims Innocent Bystanders
An increasingly complicated problem in America is the wounding and killing of unintended victims. There are so many shootings in so many locations, including highways, that the daily news reports children and adults being harmed who weren’t even intended to be harmed by the trigger pullers. Serge and Clarke talk about this phenomenon, especially in…
Read MoreOcean City, Maryland Police Enforce Vaping Laws the Old Fashioned Way—With Force
Videos of Ocean City, Maryland Police Officers kicking, tackling, and even using a taser on young African American males to enforce the prohibition against vaping on the Boardwalk prompt this week’s discussion. Serge and Clarke explain the Ocean City ordinances and comment upon the enforcement strategies which have resulted in a public relations debacle for…
Read MoreFells Point Tax Revolt Leads Baltimore Police to “Flood the Zone.”
Thirty-seven Baltimore businesses threatened a taxpayer revolt unless the city provided sufficient police protection to the Fells Points community. Counter-protestors threatened to boycott these same businesses unless they paid taxes. The politics of police protection in Baltimore is the topic of this podcast. “We’ve reached our breaking point”: 37 Fells Point businesses threaten not to…
Read MoreProject EXILE makes for strange bedfellows in Baltimore
The acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland holds a press conference to announce an expanded Project EXILE in Baltimore. He shares the stage with State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Serge Antonin and Clarke Ahlers consider the confusing messages being sent by Marilyn Mosby who told her constituents that the most serious problem facing…
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