Attorneys have finished closing arguments in the trial of the fourth Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken in the back of a police transport van.
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Rice is charged with manslaughter, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
Rice, 42, is the highest ranking officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray.
Gray died April 19, 2015, a week after he suffered a spinal injury while he was handcuffed and shackled, but left unrestrained by a seatbelt in the van. Instead, officers handcuffed and shackled him and put him face down on the floor of the van. She said the lieutenant deliberately chose not to seat belt Gray “not because he had a combative prisoner, but because he wanted to punish and humiliate him”.
“Had Lieutenant Rice taken one small measure of compassion and humanity Freddie Gray would be alive”, Bledsoe told Williams.
Belsky dismissed an argument from Bledsoe that there were very few people at the scene, and that those on the scene – including Gray’s friend, Brandon Ross – did not pose a threat to the officers.
“It was professional, correct, it was right and it was reasonable”, Belsky said. Belsky quoted one bystander who said, “Pop this dumb-ass mother [expletive]”.
His lawyers have argued that Rice’s decision not to secure Gray was reasonable given Gray’s combativeness, a restive crowd of onlookers and the inherent risks in securing detainees in a van.
As with the last two bench trial in the Freddie Gray cases, prosecutors and defense attorneys can expect to be interrupted by Judge Barry Williams with questions about their case.
Prosecutors said Rice, who is white, was most responsible for following police procedures to fasten a prisoner in a seat belt, citing his 18 years of experience on the force.
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Williams also pushed both sides on their descriptions of the scene, saying both wanted him to look at the evidence “in a vacuum”, without considering certain factors. “This is a very hard case for the state to win”, said David Jaros, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Williams announced at this point that he would not consider any aspect of the closing arguments that were not presented as evidence during the four days of the trial. Those stipulations helped move the trial along quickly. Officer William Porter had a mistrial in December after a 12-member jury failed to reach a consensus on any of the charges against him. Officer Goodson had been driving. Williams acquitted Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. of murder, manslaughter and other counts after an eight-day bench trial, rejecting the state’s claim that Goodson gave Gray a “rough ride”.
