Three of the officers charged are black; Nero and two others are white. Porter’s retrial is scheduled for September 6. “In other words it really was a mass, grassroots movement”.
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That announcement was welcome news to enraged Baltimoreans who had taken to the streets in the wake of Gray’s death in tense, and at times violent, protest.
Gray died a week after the arrest and his death triggered rioting in the majority black city. Thereafter, neither buckled-in Gray, since a new policy that made this mandatory came out just a few days before, had not been disseminated, and the responsibility for buckling in passengers was on the van driver.
The judge rejected the prosecution argument that there was recklessness or negligence on Nero’s part.
After Williams spoke, Nero appeared to wipe away a tear.
Baltimore police officer Edward Nero arrives for his trial in connection with the death of Freddie Gray at a courthouse in Baltimore. “And even though the judge ruled that they hadn’t proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt, it provided the transparency, it allows the public to appreciate what policing looks like in Freddie Gray’s community and then they can compare it with the policing that takes place in more upscale communities…that transparency is a good thing”, Colbert added. “The judge’s verdict showed that”.
This was the second trial in the prosecutor’s pursuit of justice for Gray.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake noted the departmental review and pleaded for calm.
Officer Edward Nero, labeled white.
“To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across the country: I have heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace, ‘” Mosby said. The papers state White saw Gray at the North Avenue stop of the police transport van.
Nero was accused of assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
Nero was one of six Baltimore police officers charged in the case.
The judge dismissed the jury in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Officer William Porter after 16 hours of deliberations during which it was unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges.
“I really (commend) a prosecutor (Mosby), for following the evidence, for finding evidence that supported each of the charges”, said University of Maryland law professor Doug Colbert.
Critics who believe prosecutors were overzealous with charges against six police officers say the state is using the individual officers as a way to indict an entire police department.
Judge Williams acquitted Edward Nero, an officer who helped in the arrest of Mr Gray, on Monday.
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As Mckesson reminded Kelly, Gray was targeted by police, tossed into the back of a police van, and emerged from it with a broken spine. Zayon argued Nero wasn’t involved in Gray’s arrest, having only arrived after Gray was in handcuffs.
