“For those that believe I’m anti-police, it’s simply not the case”.
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Gray’s death was one of several recent killings of African American men by police officers that triggered nationwide demonstrations and stoked a national debate about police brutality against minorities. The results are expected soon. If police fear that even a good-faith mistake in arresting a suspect could result in criminal charges, they will pull back.
The newly elected Mosby was among the first prosecutors to file charges against officers after an in-custody death, amid complaints elsewhere that authorities were too slow to hold police accountable. “And you don’t do it on the back of innocent people just to prove that point”. “I think it was disgraceful, what she did and the way she did it”. She alleged that “poignant questions” were not asked during interrogations and that detectives declined to serve warrants seeking text messages involving officers.
Prosecutors have dropped the remaining charges against Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, bringing an end to the case without a conviction.
“We do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself”, said Mosby during a news conference in Gray’s neighborhood in West Baltimore, in front of a mural painted in his honor.
Gray’s mom, Glorida Darden, told reporters, “It was wrong what they did to my son, they lied and I know they lied”.
Earlier in the day, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said blamed the police investigation of bias and reluctance. He rejected Mosby’s accusations that officers involved in the investigation were biased. Three of the six officers charged in the case had already been acquitted. She said the charges she brought were not an indictment of the entire Baltimore Police Department, but she also broadly condemned the actions and testimony of some officers involved in Gray’s arrest or in the department’s investigation of the incident – alleging “consistent bias” at “every stage”.
The city spent roughly $7.4 million on the trials, according to Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. He said the investigation was rushed and ignored findings by police who he said concluded Gray’s death was an accident rather than intentional or negligent homicide. “It gets it right”.
“Never again should a commanding officer or a rank-and-file officer be able to assert that they are unaware of departmental policies, general orders, or procedures, due to the fact that there is now a software verification and accountability system to ensure their adherence”.
Lt. Brian Rice and Officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson were acquitted. After the state failed to present any evidence to support that theory, prosecutors all but abandoned the notion.
Of the six officers charged in Gray’s death, three were white and three were black, as was the judge.
The charges were dropped at the start of what’s called a Kastigar hearing in the case against Officer Garrett Miller. The state also dropped charges against Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter.
He contended that Gray ran from police when they encountered him, because he and his friends planned to “re-up” to sell drugs that day. He was handcuffed and shackled when he was injured.
Ultimately, Mosby and her staff felt dropping the charges would still be the best way to continue reforms within the police department despite not getting a conviction. At the time, the tense city was still under a curfew.
Gray, 25, died in April 2015 after he was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for having what turned out to be a legal knife.
Porter had been scheduled to be retried in September, and White had been scheduled to be tried in October.
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Gray’s death, and the protests that followed, catapulted Baltimore to the center of a national reckoning over race and policing.
