Gray died April 19, 2015, a week after he suffered a critical spinal injury in the back of Goodson’s police wagon.
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Just two weeks ago, Rice opted for a bench trial – meaning that if convicted, his fate would be decided by Judge Williams instead of a jury.
He was the fourth of six officers charged in the case to go to trial. The earlier trials of Officer Edward Nero, Officer Garrett Miller and Officer William Porter resulted in two acquittals and a mistrial.
Charges against Rice of second-degree assault and misconduct had been either previously dismissed by the judge or put aside by prosecutors.
Three trials remain in the Freddie Gray Case, including the second trial of William Porter, whose case was declared a mistrial in December 2015.
At the conclusion of the ruling, Rice’s supporters – including two other officers acquitted in the case and one who is yet to be tried – pressed toward him, and expressionless prosecutors left the court.
Gray’s death in police custody sparked massive protests in Baltimore, a city of 620,000 people, and has become one of the highest-profile cases of police brutality in recent years.
He said the reckless endangerment charge was moot because the law doesn’t apply to crimes related to motor vehicles unless the auto is in motion.
The judge said prosecutors failed to show the lieutenant was aware of a departmental policy requiring seat belts for prisoners during transport. Gray was handcuffed and chained inside the police van but never strapped into his seat belt.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday that he does not see the point of moving forward with the remaining trials against the officers. Prosecutors described them as concerned observers, while Belsky said officers heard threatening comments during the arrest.
After four trials and no convictions, it’s increasingly clear that the evidence against six Baltimore police officers is too weak to sustain the hopes of citizens desperate for reform.
“The failure to seat belt is the basis of the crime”, argued prosecutor Michael Schatzow. He then acquitted Lt. Rice on all charges and issued a gag order binding both the prosecution and defense from discussing the case.
In Baltimore today comes another acquittal of an officer involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Williams cleared Rice, 42, of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in a downtown Baltimore courtroom Monday morning. A sixth officer, Sgt. Alicia White, is scheduled to go to trial October 13.
But defence lawyers said Rice made a reasonable split-second decision while Gray was being combative and a hostile crowd looked on, they said. “Most of her followers would accept that”.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, the White House said it expects individuals who might have concerns with the court’s decision to “register those concerns peacefully”, apparently attempting to mitigate any potentially violent reactions to the verdict as tensions run high from a string of police killings of black men by police officers.
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Gray’s death ushered in a resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
