Three officers are still awaiting trials, while a fourth, William Porter, saw his trial end with a hung jury in December.
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“As a prosecutor, in my opinion, you shouldn’t be in a rush”, he said. “I think people ordinarily would accept that. But in this case, Mosby raised people’s expectations”.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams didn’t deny that Gray was fatally injured inside the police van, but he dismissed the charges because the state failed to provide evidence or witnesses to support the claims. The six police officers charged in the case, even the acquitted Edward Nero, aren’t likely to feel a sense of justice. But Goodson wouldn’t talk to investigators or take the stand at trial, leaving the state with slim evidence of intent to harm.
Gene Ryan, the head of Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, praised the judge’s decision and called on the state’s attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby, to drop the cases against the other officers. Announcing such serious charges may have been reasonable last May, but continuing to pursue them now isn’t. He was shackled and loaded into a van driven by Goodson but was not secured in a seat belt.
After Williams acquitted a second officer, analysts now expect the rest to opt for bench trials. Prosecutors could seek to have Williams removed from the cases, but such a move is rarely successful.
The latest acquittal related to the 25-year-old’s death involved the van’s driver, who transported Gray the night of his arrest to a police station. He was acquitted of second-degree depraved-heart murder, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, reckless endangerment and three counts of manslaughter.
“My view of this case from the beginning was that the prosecutor rushed to judgment, that the prosecutor overcharged, and that the prosecutor didn’t take the time to fully and completely investigate this case before charging”, she said. He said the state failed to show evidence consistent with the charges.
Goodson remains suspended without pay and his case is under internal review by the department, a police spokesman said.
“The state made the “rough ride” theory a centerpiece of its case, and when the “rough ride” theory was not proven at all, a significant part of the state’s case fell apart”, Alperstein said.
“We are angered by the verdict, but we are not surprised”, said Sharon Black, an organizer of Peoples Power Assembly. The questions in the trials of the remaining four officers – Lt. Brian Rice, Officer Garrett Miller, Porter and Sgt. Alicia White – are somewhat different, so it’s possible that cases can be proven against them on some charges. “There has been no justice for Freddie Gray”, she said.
As the packed courtroom exited, including many from national media outlets who were coming to the trial for the first time, a small group of protestors were gathered outside, including Tawanda Jones, the sister of Tyrone West, who died in police custody. On the day he was buried, the city descended into riots.
Mosby’s announcement of charges against the six officers helped to calm the city. Police and attorneys for the officers pushed back hard, saying the knife was illegal under city ordinances, so the arrest was legitimate.
Goodson and the other officers may be not guilty in a court of law, but “in the street we see it as criminal, and we see that our loved ones are dead”, said Baltimore’s NAACP president, Tessa Hill-Aston.
That set a high bar for prosecutors. Williams said there was a point, during the vans fourth stop, when Goodson should have reassessed whether it was possible to put a seat belt on Gray. Community activists and legal experts said they anticipated Goodson would be found not guilty.
A Baltimore judge is poised to deliver his verdict in the murder trial of an officer who drove the police van where a black arrestee’s neck was broken, triggering some of the worst riots the city has ever seen.
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“This case has revealed the really significant challenges to getting a criminal conviction for these charges”, Jaros said.
