He has been charged with reckless endangerment, two counts of misconduct in office, two counts of second-degree assault and involuntary manslaughter.
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“Why would you expect the court to allow you to drop 4,000 pages on the defense a few days before trial without repercussions?” the judge countered. Per the Baltimore Sun, prosecutors have cited training to supports its claim that the cops involved in Gray’s arrest acted against what they were taught.
The prosecution suffered a setback at the hearing on Tuesday when the judge ruled that they had committed another discovery violation and that any evidence of Lt. Rice’s training since becoming a police officer could not be presented at trial. Rice’s lawyers said Tuesday that he has chosen to be tried instead by a judge, the same one who acquitted two fellow officers in Freddie Gray’s death.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby vowed to bring justice to an aggrieved citizenry when she announced the charges past year.
The dispute shows how hard it is to prosecute police officers, said University of Baltimore Law School professor David Jaros, who has observed the trials. He is the fourth of six officers – three white and three black – to go before Williams, who acquitted two other officers last month. The grand jury also added charges of reckless endangerment and misconduct in office against all six officers. Goodson faced the most serious charges of any of the officers charged, and was cleared by judge Williams on June 23. The prosecution alleges that Freddie Gray became hurt due to the officers giving him a “rough ride” and not properly buckling him into the back of the police van. But Goodson was acquitted on all charges last month.
Gray died seven days after his arrest, sparking civil unrest and protests and shining a light on racial tensions and issues surrounding what critics said was the use of excessive force by police nationwide.
Rice was patrolling area around a public housing complex and ordered police to chase Gray when he fled police.
Prosecutors face an uphill battle convincing Williams to find Rice guilty, legal experts said.
“We believe that a combination of training and [general] orders would’ve alerted the defendant that the conduct he engaged in was not within the scope” of proper officer conduct, said Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow, according to the Sun.
We must weigh the potential financial cost of defending the lawsuits in court and the potential exposure to the citizens of the city of Baltimore if we are unsuccessful in court – and for that matter if we are successful in court.
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Gray’s death stoked a national debate that had been spurred by the deaths of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police in cities including New York, Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri. Considering that the evidence against Rice is the same as that offered by the prosecution in the other cases, and will be heard by the same judge, the verdict will not likely favor the prosecution. They asked Williams to preclude the state from discussing training from the case or to prevent discussion of the specific documents.
