Lawyers for the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray claim they cannot get a fair trial in Baltimore and want a change of venue ("Officers want trial moved," May 28). This is downright insulting to Baltimore jurors. If the judge in Boston refused a change of venue for the marathon bomber trial and that trial was managed with due propriety, there is surely no reason to assume Baltimore cannot handle trials in this much less notorious case.
Voir dire can be extremely thorough, and the vast majority of Baltimore citizens are responsible adults. Those who actually serve as jurors, unlike those who evade the responsibility, understand the importance of the job. It might take two or three days to impanel a jury, but once that jury was in place, it would do its work carefully. To suggest otherwise is to betray a belief in ignorant stereotypes which ill becomes a member of the legal profession.
Katharine W. Rylaarsdam