Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams is expected to announce his verdict Monday. The city agreed in September to pay Gray’s family $6.4 million to settle civil litigation in the case.
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Williams should now reconsider the remaining cases “and dismiss their charges”, he said.
Billy Murphy, an attorney for the Gray family, said that “as long as this was a fair process, then justice was done”. Therefore, he said, it was reasonable of Nero to not take it upon himself to secure Gray and to expect other officers to handle it.
Judge Williams rejected the state’s argument that the defendant acted corruptly or with intent regarding any of the charges made by the state of Maryland.
Williams also rejected prosecutors’ charges that Nero detained Gray without justification and assaulted him during the arrest. Freddie Gray died after sustaining a broken neck in police custody. Rice got into the van and pulled Gray by the shoulders while Nero held his legs. The department said in an earlier statement that despite the end of the criminal case, an internal investigation is ongoing. Six officers were charged.
Nero is the second officer to stand trial in the case.
After Porter’s trial ended in December protesters clashed with sheriff’s deputies and there were three arrests.
The other officers are set to each have separate trials over the summer and into the fall.
Prosecutors claimed that Nero assaulted Gray by detaining him without justification. That applied to both when Gray was arrested and when he was handcuffed, shackled and placed in a police van, he said.
Nero’s attorney had argued that it was the police van driver’s responsibility to buckle in detainees.
Miller testified that he alone arrested Gray, and the judge said he believed him.
After Williams spoke, Nero appeared to wipe away a tear.
Edward Nero arrives for his trial over the death of Freddie Gray at a courthouse in Baltimore.
The Rev. Westley West, a well-known activist in Baltimore, looked shocked.
Mosby spokeswoman Rochelle Ritchie, citing a gag order in the case, declined comment Monday.
The van driver, though, should put his fate in the hands of a jury, because “when you’re facing a murder charge, as Goodson is, you do not want to put all your eggs in one basket”, Alperstein said.
Darren Cole, 45, who lives in Sandtown-Winchester and volunteers at the Penn-North Kids Safety Zone, said he has been following Nero’s trial and agreed with the verdict.
Gray’s death sparked a firestorm of protests across the city of Baltimore and six officers were charged. The mayor said Monday that the city is prepared to respond to any disturbances in response to the acquittal.
Officer Goodson’s trial starts on June 6th.
WJZ’s Ron Matz says the trial was attended by a group of Baltimore City police officers, most in plain clothes.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a statement urging calm. As for his failure the buckle Gray in, Williams said there was no proof Nero knew he had a duty to belt the prisoner in, or that he failed to do so on goal.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees all criminal defendants the right to a jury trial – but it’s a right that can be waived.
Gray’s name became a rallying cry in the growing furor over the deaths of black men in clashes with police.
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“It’s not about one, two, or a dozen police officers charged with misconduct or excessive force”. Gray died one week after the arrest on April 12, 2015, due to a serious spinal cord injury.
