At left is Gray’s father, Richard Shipley. Wednesday, Mosby told reporters she was dropping all charges against the remaining officers but added that she found “consistent bias” among police officers testifying in the investigation, which she found problematic in a case where the police were policing themselves.
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When Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby spoke about the death of Freddie Gray during a press conference past year she was widely criticized for making many inappropriate remarks. The proceedings that did take place revealed she had moved far too precipitously, with cases built far too heavily on the idea that, because Gray died of injuries suffered in the police van, every cop shared criminal culpability.
Hogan began to publicly criticize the prosecutions of the six officers charged with Gray’s arrest after the second acquittal issued by Judge Barry G. Williams, and responded more forcefully after the third acquittal. Authorities had planned to retry him.
This means that state attorney Marilyn Mosby was unsuccessful in her attempt to get convictions for Gray’s death.
She said she is not “anti-police”, but “anti-police brutality”. “However, as a chief prosecutor elected by the citizens of Baltimore, I must consider the dismal likelihood of conviction at this point”. “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. She angrily blamed the outcome on an uncooperative police department and a broken criminal justice system.
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”.
Mosby was asked about her critics that said all along that she made a rush to judgement. He also alleged that once an ambulance was called, it was slow to arrive at the scene. We’ll have to see if they will face any internal discipline for failing to seat belt Freddie Gray. Officers anxious Mosby’s statement would incite violence against them, a police source told Fox News, saying “she really blasted us”.
Prosecutors suffered significant setbacks in almost every trial presented before Circuit Judge Barry Williams. They were filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland in 2015 in late April and early May around the time the officers were arrested.
Rice and Nero had already been acquitted in separate bench trials. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden is here with us to talk more about this, and, you know, pretty stunning since there was a courtroom full of people in Baltimore expecting a hearing in the trial of one of these officers. After the state failed to present any evidence to support that theory, prosecutors all but abandoned the notion. Officers Porter, Garrett Miller and Sgt. Alicia White were scheduled for trials when the charges were dropped Wednesday. Police said no extra officers will work the streets Wednesday night.
Attorneys for the police officers said justice had been served and they praised the police department for a thorough investigation, reported the AP. The results are expected soon.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump-who has made the defense of the police and armed forces a core part of his campaign-welcomed the decision to drop charges, and lashed out at Mosby.
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“Justice has been done” said FOP 3 president Lt. Gene Ryan, going on to call Mosby’s remarks about the officers “outrageous and uncalled for and simply untrue”.
