Gray, then 25, died after sustaining a neck injury while in police custody in April 2015.
Advertisement
Gray’s death became a symbol of the black community’s mistrust of police and triggered days of protests and riots in Baltimore.
Prosecutors suffered blow after crippling blow in the courtroom.
On Wednesday, Mosby’s office announced that it would drop all remaining charges against the three Baltimore Police Department officers still awaiting trial over Freddie Gray’s death. Authorities had planned to retry him.
She announced them with wildly inappropriate rhetoric: “To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace.’ Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man”. “This is your moment”.
On Wednesday, she was fiery and indignant as she spoke from behind a podium across the street from the public-housing complex where Gray was arrested.
Williams also called out this “law and order” mentality in subsequent tweets. She said “obvious questions” weren’t asked during interrogations. She alleged lead detectives were slow to provide information and failed to execute search warrants for key text messages. We stand by the medical examiner’s determination that Freddie Gray’s death was a homicide.
Mosby also said the prosecutions had led to changes to police practices and pushed the Baltimore Police Department, long plagued by accusations of racial bias and under investigation by the Department of Justice, “one step closer to equality”. All opted for bench rather than jury trials, meaning that presiding judge Barry Williams determined the verdicts.
“They tried to create a narrative of the infamous ‘rough ride, ‘ and it just didn’t come true”, said Tyler Mann, a city defense attorney and former city prosecutor. Before Miller’s trial could proceed, prosecutors were required to show that they had not gleaned any evidence or strategic advantage in Miller’s trial from his immunized testimony. Others, however, said there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the officers. Officer Edward M. Nero, Lt. Brian W. Rice and Officer Caesar R. Goodson, Jr. were all acquitted earlier this year. As a result, she has now nearly certainly poisoned whatever relationship she may still have with the Baltimore police department – all amid a huge spike in murders in the city.
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. The results are expected soon.
“We do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself”, Mosby said. “Never again should an officer exhibit a blatant or reckless disregard for human life due to the fact that there are now use of force policies that emphasize the sanctity of life, accentuates de-escalation and requires that officers intervene if fellow officers cross the line”, Mosby added. “If they had gone forward”, she said, “it would have been a disaster for the original prosecutors”. The audience cheered as Mosby read out the list of criminal charges. In September, Baltimore officials settled with Gray’s family for $6.4 million.
Those claims have been roundly rejected by city officials ranging from the mayor of Baltimore to the head of the police union, Gene [jeen] Ryan.
“We’re going to continue to be fighters for Freddie”, he said.
Advertisement
It’s not hard to see why Gray, and others in the black community, feel justice has not been done. “We’re grateful that he didn’t die in vain”. Officers anxious Mosby’s statement would incite violence against them, a police source told Fox News, saying “she really blasted us”. Defense attorneys, however, said the state could not supply ample evidence to prove the officers’ guilt. Six officers, three white and three black, were charged in Gray’s death.
