The scene this morning from Baltimore Circuit Court Room 329 East, 9:35 a.m.:

Baltimore Police Officer Thomas Sanders III sat next to his attorney, Henry L. Belsky, on a wooden bench waiting to plead not guilty to fatally shooting a man he was trying to arrest.

The scene this morning from Baltimore Circuit Court Room 226M, 9:40 a.m.:

A jury resumes deliberating the fate of Brandon Grimes, charged with killing Baltimore Police Detective Troy Lamon Chesley during an apparent robbery outside his home.

Two courtrooms on opposite sides of North Calvert Street. Two prosecutors trying very different cases. One is trying to put a city officer in prison, another is trying to put an alleged cop-killer in prison.

The irony wasn't lost on Belsky, a seasoned attorney who has long represented police officers and their union, the Fraternal Order of Police. He is know for his impassioned defense of cops, and he didn't shirk this morning as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his client after the perfunctory hearing that lasted barely five minutes and included a longer discussion on an available trial date than on the case itself.

Belsky noted that on the very day his client was indicted on a manslaughter charge, an Anne Arundel County police officer was shot in the chest after chasing a man into the city. The officer's vest saved him from serious injury.

Two cops, Belsky said, making two different choices. His client shot Edward Lamont Hunt in a Northeast Baltimore parking lot. The man was unarmed, and witnesses said he was shot in the back after being frisked by Sanders and while he was walking away. This morning, Sanders snickered when that scenario was repeated, but he refused to comment further.

Belsky, likewise, wasn't giving up his defense just yet. But he hinted there is more to this story. Officers must make split-second decisions on using lethal force, and Belsky noted that Hunt had a prior record for resisting arrest. That Sanders didn't know he didn't have a gun. That Hunt was wearing an unusually large coat that make a thorough frisk difficult.

Sanders, his lawyer said, had a job to protect the citizens and go home at night in one piece. Hunt, Belsky said, also had a job, "to commit crimes and resist arrest."

The trial is set for November, where hopefully the full story will come out. Sanders is charged with both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. For voluntary, prosecutors must prove he believed he needed to take a life but that any other reasonable person would not have done the same. For involuntary, prosecutors have to prove that the officer acted in a "grossly negligent" manner.

At nearly the same time Sanders pleaded not guilty, the jury deciding Grimes' fate across the street returned with a question for the judge. They wanted to know legal definitions for first-degree murder, second-degree murder and premeditation.