Even more issues for Marilyn Mosby as details emerge of top investigator's checkered past

Greg P. | 7:07 AM on May 07, 2015

As we reported, problems have surfaced in the case brought against six Baltimore police officers for their roles in the death of Freddie Gray, with one former prosecutor calling Marilyn Mosby’s prosecution “either incompetence or an unethical recklessness.”

And now we’re learning a little bit more about the background of one of the top people Mosby used to investigate the officers. In summary, Mosby’s investigator is a former high-ranking Baltimore cop who was “stripped of his command” and later Tasered during a SWAT raid on his home. From CNN:

Another issue could arise from the team Mosby relied on to lead her case: one of her top investigators, Avon Mackel, is a former high-ranking Baltimore police officer who was stripped of his command post in 2009 for failing to follow through on a robbery investigation that two of his officers mishandled and did not report. A Baltimore Sun report said police in the district were accused of classifying serious crimes as lesser in order to log lower crime rates.

In October 2009, four months after his demotion, Baltimore County police sent a SWAT team to Mackel’s home, responding a drunken incident in which he was seen holding a gun, according to a police report of the incident obtained by CNN.

Officers said an intoxicated Mackel refused to cooperate and was visibly upset, according to the report provided in response to a public records request. An officer then “observed the barrel of Mackel’s handgun hanging over the edge of the molding at the top of the steps and saw Mackel pull the gun out of sight,” the report said.

Police used a Taser on Mackel while he was on the phone with his father “crying and yelling,” before he barricaded himself in his bedroom. The report doesn’t say how the incident ended, but police said there was no arrest. A spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department said “the [SWAT] tactical unit did assist with this incident, which ended peacefully.”

Mackel didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment. No one answered at his home.