In the wake of Baltimore police Officer Edward Nero’s acquittal of all charges in the death of Freddie Gray, Fox News host Megyn Kelly and a Black Lives Matter activist dueled over whether Nero did anything wrong.
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Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby (l.) is facing criticism that she moved too quickly to file charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. He was charged with reckless endangerment, four misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault and two counts of misconduct in office. Nero, 30, was one of six officers involved in Gray’s April 2015 death. A jury trial for Officer William Porter late past year ended in a hung jury when the panel could not reach a decision on manslaughter and other charges.
Officer Edward Nero was charged with unlawfully arresting Gray without probable cause and acting negligently by failing to buckle the prisoner into a seat belt.
Gray’s neck was snapped sometime during a 45-minute ride in the back of police van, with his hands in cuffs and ankles in shackles. It also exposed troubles within the police department. Prosecutors are looking to take him back to court in September. And I think, Lis will agree with this, the idea that they are trying their weaker cases first and not being able to get a guilty verdict, it’s just amateur hour to me.
Miller testified that he alone arrested Gray, and the judge said he believed him.
Baltimore defense attorney Warren Alperstein, who watched the trial, said Nero wisely elected a non-jury trial, because a judge is more capable of applying the complex constitutional questions involving what is a proper arrest.
Earlier in his radio show, the conservative talker said the entire Freddie Gray case was “never about evidence”, adding that it has been a “railroad job” from the start.
Trial No. 3 – that of van driver Caesar Goodson, who prosecutors believe is most culpable in Gray’s death – is set to begin in two weeks.
Kelly went on to say, “You’re suggesting these cops killed this man, and I’m telling you that while Freddie Gray died in police custody, that has not yet been established”. But even so, she said it isn’t enough for an officer to assume his supervisor will follow the rules.
Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, said officers’ failure to see that Gray was buckled in “speaks to a lack of training”.
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Davis said Tuesday the new Power Document Management System, which will be rolled out July 1, will require officers to take quizzes based on information contained in general orders before signing their names at the bottom. Mckesson then repeated that he hoped an administrative review would lead to policies that would allow officers to be punished for gross miscalculations in judgment like the ones that led to Gray’s arrest.
