And the only officer so far to choose a jury trial, William Porter, will be retried in September after the jury failed to agree on his fate.
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Five other officers have been charged, and Goodson was the third to go to trial.
Prosecutors allege Goodson meant to injure Freddie Gray when he drove him around in a police van shackled but without a seat belt. Rather than face a jury, Goodson opted for a bench trial, which allowed Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams to decide the verdict unilaterally.
Goodson, who is also African-American, is charged with second-degree depraved heart murder, three counts of manslaughter, reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
As with the other trials, Baltimore police have canceled leave and put on notice the National Guard, which rolled into town to impose order after Gray’s death. The unrest forced the city’s mayor to abandon her re-election campaign, and the Department of Justice opened an investigation into allegations of widespread police abuse.
It could take much longer to fix the tense and uneasy relationship between Baltimore’s prosecutors and police, now that they’ve traded accusations of sabotage, misconduct and dirty dealings during the third trial of an officer in the death of Freddie Gray.
BBC and other global outlets are reporting there is an armed man in a German cinema. They also argued that prosecutors failed to prove that Gray would have survived if he had been wearing a seatbelt, and said there was no evidence that Goodson was responsible for Gray’s death.
Defense attorneys argued Gray’s injuries were an accident, and in his closing argument Monday, defense attorney Matthew Fraling argued that Gray moved off the van floor, where he was placed, and that caused his injuries.
Brian Rice is the next officer scheduled to go to trial on July 5.
The defense countered saying Gray’s injuries were of his own doing, that he was combative during his arrest and it was too unsafe to belt him in. “He has breached his duty, and because of that breach Freddie Gray’s life was shortened”.
Goodson’s attorney pressed Franklin and directly asked him, “Is it not your contention that officer Goodson engaged in a rough ride?”. Sam Cogen of the sheriff’s office, who signed the charging documents. Second-degree assault carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. He is charged with manslaughter. “But we won’t stand for the destruction and the violence that occurred a year ago”.
As was the case when the verdict was announced before the verdict in Nero’s trial was announced, security will be tight in and around Courthouse East.
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A Baltimore judge is poised to deliver his verdict in the murder trial of an officer who drove the police van where a black arrestee’s neck was broken, triggering some of the worst riots the city has ever seen. Some say Mosby’s reputation now hinges on the outcome.
