The day after State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby dropped charges against the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, the two lead prosecutors in the trials to this point sat down with reporters to discuss the case publicly for the first time. Williams acquitted Officers Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson and Lt. Brian Rice at bench trials in May, June, and July, respectively.
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But Freddie Gray is still dead, his death happened in custody, when theoretically police officers are responsible for the well being, and continued living of prisoners.
Most recently, in the charges against Officer Garrett Miller, a new team of attorneys from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office was assembled to prosecute his case.
The comments made today about our officers by Ms. Mosby were outrageous and uncalled for and simply not true, said Gene Ryan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3.
But she added: “As a mother, the decision to not proceed on these trials is agonising”.
Five of the six officers charged for the death of Gray are suing Mosby, as well as Maj.
During 11 News’ one-on-one interview, Mosby said, “We are up against a system that, unfortunately was against us”. Mosby told 11 News the decision to drop the charges was not an easy one for her and her team.
BALTIMORE (AP) – Fourteen months after the death of a black man whose neck was broken in a police van prompted massive protests, spawned rioting and toppled the careers of Baltimore’s police commissioner and a Democratic mayor poised for re-election, authorities abandoned efforts to punish the officers involved.
“There must be a statewide review of police policies to ensure that cases like Freddie Gray’s will not be repeated”. I think it’s disgraceful what she did and the way she did it. And the news conference that she had where they were guilty before anybody even knew the facts.
She said there is an “inherent bias” whenever “police police themselves”.
Attorney Ivan Bates, who represents White and spoke on behalf of all of the officers and their attorneys, described the past year as a “nightmare” for the officers.
Prosecutors have been facing pressure to drop the charges after so many trials ended without a conviction.
The prosecution’s announcement Wednesday closed the criminal cases against the officers.
Hill-Aston noted that since the charges, Baltimore police started to issue officers body cameras and install cameras inside police transport vans like the one where Gray, 25, sustained his fatal injuries while restrained by handcuffs but not a seatbelt.
That evidence was lacking for prosecutors became apparent when they fought to have Porter testify against other officers charged in the case despite awaiting retrial.
The move means there will be not be one single conviction in the case. She said, “It’s something that I’ve been grappling with for some time”.
Wednesday started with a pretrial hearing for Miller, who had faced charges of assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment. Gray later died of a spinal cord injury.
“We will not engage in public banter with our criminal justice system partners, nor will we entertain media requests that seek responses to remarks made by persons now offering retrospective opinions”, Jackson said in an email.
Activist Sharon Black, an organiser for the Peoples Power Assembly, which has been holding rallies and protests in Baltimore, told the Associated Press that she believed the anger will build in the community again because police were not being held accountable. “Unlike other cases where prosecutors work closely with the police to investigate what actually occurred, what we realized very early on in this case was that, police investigating police – whether they’re friends or colleagues – was problematic”.
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Gray’s death ignited riots and violence in Baltimore and sparked a nationwide debate on police brutality.
