The heated Freddie Gray case makes headlines again as Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams acquits Lt. Brian Rice of all charges related to Gray’s arrest and death.
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Brian Rice, 42, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment, an opinion announced today at a downtown Baltimore courthouse. Rice is the fourth police officer to be tried in relation to Freddie Gray’s death, two others of whom have been acquitted and one whose trial ended with a hung jury. During his trial, prosecutors argued that Rice caused Gray’s death because he did not secure the 25-year-old man in a seat belt while he was riding in the back of the police van where he suffered severe spinal cord injuries, The Sun reports.
During the trial, prosecutors had said Rice was most responsible of the six officers charged for following police procedures to fasten a prisoner in a seat belt, citing his 18 years of experience on the force. In addition to the manslaughter charge, Williams acquitted Rice of misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. The controversy took a tragic turn when eight police officers were shot dead in apparent reprisal attacks staged by lone black gunmen in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He said she never had the evidence to bring the charges and should have dropped the remaining cases after the acquittals of Officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson. The charges varied from officer to officer and included everything from false arrest to second-degree depraved-heart murder.
Police union officials have called on prosecutors to drop the charges against three officers still awaiting trial in the case, which triggered protests and rioting in the mainly black city and stoked a national debate about how police treat minorities.
Monday’s verdict is the latest setback for prosecutors, who have failed to secure a conviction in the trials of four officers thus far. A retrial is scheduled for Porter in September.
Earlier this month, the judge granted a defense motion to throw out one of the charges against Rice, saying the state failed to show he committed assault.
Williams said a “mistake” or an “error in judgment” by Rice was not enough to prove the crimes alleged. Baltimore was rocked by riots and looting in the days following Gray’s funeral, prompting “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations across the nation. But others say the case against the officers involved in Gray’s death was weak from the start and represented a rush to prosecution fueled by public outcry. She said the state’s failure to convict an officer in the case stifles progress in addressing police brutality.
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Warren Alperstein, a prominent lawyer in the city who has been observing the case, said after the ruling that prosecutors have exhausted their theories and need to question whether to move forward.
