Black and White and Thin Blue Lines

Send a text A fatal stabbing on the J train is the subject of this week's podcast. Five weeks after Daniel Perry fatally choked Jordan Neely on the New York subway system, 20-year-old Jordan Williams is charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for the fatal stabbing of Devictor Ouedraogo. Serge and Clarke discuss the differences, similarities, and social ramifications of...

Send a text Debra Saltz is one of Maryland's best attorneys. She clerked for the late, great Joseph Murphy, she worked as a public defender in Baltimore County, and she served as a prosecutor in Howard County for four years. Debra has also been in private practice for many years, especially concentrating in criminal defense. Debra is a free thinker and she is untethered to the rote acceptance...

Send a text The January 6th breach of the U.S. Capitol resulted in one of the most extensive criminal investigations spearheaded by the FBI in the history of the United States. In today's episode, Serge and Clarke speak with attorney David Fischer, who represented the alleged mastermind of the breach: Thomas Caldwell. Caldwell's acquittal of the most serious charges shocked the D.C. pres...

Send a text In Queens, New York, a man shoots and kills a robber. The shooter's conduct is determined to be self-defense, but he is charged with firearms violations. In Charlotte, North Carolina, a bus driver shoots back at a passenger shooting at him! The bus driver is not charged with a crime, but is fired by the employer. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss the breaking of the social...

Send a text In 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the "proper cause" gun permit  requirements of New York prevent law-abiding citizens from free exercise of their second amendment rights to keep and bear arms in public for ordinary self-defense. This decision effectively negated Maryland law. In its very next session, the Maryland General Assembly passed new gun laws restri...

Send a text On May 11th, 2023, Baltimore Police Detective Cedric Elleby shot a fleeing suspect holding a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine in his right hand. The young man had not fired the weapon at the time he was shot. He was not pointing the pistol at Detective Elleby or anyone else. He was running away from the police and he was apparently shot in the back. Serge and Clarke disc...

Send a text Daniel Penny is charged with manslaughter, second degree, after holding Jordan Neely in a choke hold on the NY City Subway F Train. In this episode, Serge and Clarke discuss this sad, but compelling, case. 

Send a text In rural New York, a 65-year old man fired two shots from his porch killing a young woman in a car who was lost and turned around in his driveway. In Missouri, an 84-year old man fired two shots from his front door injuring a teenager who rang his bell, mistakenly at the wrong address to pick up his younger brothers. In both cases, activists allege that stand your grounds laws are in p...

Send a text  Two months before the death of George Floyd, seven California Highway Patrolmen - including a Sergeant -- and one nurse held Edward Bronstein face down while handcuffed behind his back to take blood in a DUI case pursuant to a search warrant. Bronstein screamed that he couldn't breathe. The incident was videotaped. Bronstein died during the incident allegedly due to methamphetami...

Send a text Serge and Clarke "reimagine" the qualifications to be a police chief in 2023. We tell you what cops say they want; want the IACP says it wants; and what the DOJ says it wants in a police chief. But, Serge lists his list of qualifications and Clarke lists his. We guarantee you that some of the ideas will surprise you.

Send a text Serge and Clarke discuss a controversial January 2023 proposal in the Massachusetts legislature to let Massachusetts inmates reduce their prison sentences by donating bone marrow or organs, such as a kidney. Their are pros and cons of course and these ideas are the subject of today's podcast.

Send a text Reverend P.M. Smith, Pastor of the Huber Memorial Church in Baltimore City is this week’s guest on Black and White and Thin Blue Lines. Pastor Smith brings an unmatched focus on crime in Baltimore. He is a Baltimore born and raised former criminal defense attorney and now the Pastor of Christian community. If you watch television or read the news in Baltimore, you are familiar with Rev...

Send a text On January 7, 2023, the Memphis Police Department's Scorpion Unit stopped and caused serious physical injury to 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. Mr. Nichols died in a hospital three days later. Five officers were fired on January 20, 2023. The same five officers -- Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith -- were charged by Grand Jury Indic...

Send a text In the first episode of 2023, Serge and Clarke discuss an alarming statistic: 2022 had more people killed by law enforcement than at any time since police deadly force has been tracked. Also, there was an increase in the number of police officers who were shot in the line of duty. 

Send a text The legal profession is filled with high-extroversion, low-content, self-promoters more interested in lining their pockets than achieving justice for their clients. And then, there is Sam Nalli. Sam tells the listeners about his background and interest in the law, and takes us behind the scenes in the defense of a 17-year old child charged as an adult with first-degree murder. The stor...

Send a text In the last episode, Serge and Clarke discussed the idea of a trial penalty. A trial penalty occurs when an accused citizen rejects a plea offer, goes to trial, and is convicted but receives a sentence grossly disproportionate to the plea offer. In this episode, Serge and Clarke interview Gary Baynor about an incredible story of injustice: a trial penalty of 70 extra years incarceratio...

Send a text In this episode, Serge and Clarke explore the phenomenon of the diminishing trial by jury. After explaining the statistics -- which are shocking -- Serge and Clarke seek to answer the questions of why the trial by jury is disappearing and the consequences of this significant change to the criminal justice process in America. 

Send a text Serge and Clarke discuss the tragic circumstances surrounding the arrest, guilty plea and sentenced in the Brittney Griner case. Brittney, a WNBA all star, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February of 2022 for .7 grams of cannabis oil in her luggage. She was convicted and sentenced to 9 years of hard labor in a Russian penal colony. It appears that the Biden administration is negoti...

Send a text The Supreme Court tells us that we have no constitutional right to expect the police to protect us, unless we are in their custody. Yet a Baltimore City Police Officer is sentenced to 60 days incarceration for not preventing an assault and a Yonkers Police Sergeant is under investigation for not stopping an assault. Serge and Clarke explore this vexing situation in this podcast.

Send a text Two for the price of one in this episode. Serge and Clarke contacted Moe Robinson because he teaches firearms law and skills to applicants for Maryland's carry permits. But he first shared his views on police leadership; they are so good we made the episode about both things: police leadership and firearms training for carrying a firearm in Maryland. Please listen to this excellen...

Send a text Several listeners have asked Clarke and Serge for their advice on hiring a lawyer.  In this episode, Clarke and Serge discuss everything from solo to big firm, hourly to fixed rate, young lawyer to senior advocate, local attorney to outsider, as well as the personal bias of the co-hosts when it comes to hiring a lawyer. We plan to upload this episode as a permanent part of the website....

Send a text In Maryland, most of the rehabilitation of adjudicated delinquent offenders is the domain of correctional personnel. Dr. Keith Hannon, Ph. D., has had a 30-year career as a licensed psychologist with extensive experience in the Maryland juvenile justice system. Dr. Hannan challenges the efficacy of the Maryland system, compares it to the District of Columbia juvenile justice system, an...

Send a text On June 23, 2022, the United States Supreme Court in a case called NY State Pistol & Rifle Association v. Bruen decided that New York's penal statute which required a particularized showing of "proper cause" in order to obtain a wear and carry pistol permit was unconstitutional. The second amendment guarantees to all citizens the personal right of self defense. State...

Send a text This podcast is the story of "Randy" Morton. Randy grew up in West Baltimore where a mentor steered him into Boy Scouts. Randy committed and became an Eagle Scout. After high school, he joined the military.  After the military,  he worked as a "drill sergeant" with the North American Family Institute which held a contract with the D.C. Superior Courts for adolescent...

Send a text     On May 24, 2022, 73S minutes passed between the time the time the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police arrived at Robb Elementary School and the time Room 111 was breached by the Border Patrol Swat Team. By then 376 law enforcement officers had arrived on the scene.     How is it possible for hundreds of police officers to stand impotent against one armed teenager...