Baltimore Prosecuting Attorney Marilyn Mosby agreed immediately with that assessment, saying she would bring the police officers involved to justice. Police said 17-year-old David Joseph, an unarmed nude teenager, was fatally shot by Officer Geoffrey Freeman when the teen refused orders to stop and then charged at the officer. Yet, she made it clear that justice was not served.
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But Warren Alperstein, an attorney in private practice who also watched the trials in their entirety, said Mosby’s inability to convict “was a total failure by the state’s attorney’s office”.
Gray’s case was one of the high-profile police killings that ignited the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement.
In fact, when the charges were first announced, Mosby accused the officers of everything from assault to murder.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee introduced legislation that would mandate independent prosecutors in cases of deadly force by police officers to not only ensure a clean investigation but also to remove any professional bias a local prosecutor with a daily working relationship may have when coming across a police defendant.
Weeks of an internal police investigation found no evidence that officers committed any crimes or meant to hurt Gray, Batts said.
University of Baltimore law professor David Jaros said the acquittals and dropped cases will embolden both Mosby’s supporters and critics. Neither he nor the city can afford elements in the police department who would be any less impartial in a case involving fellow officers than they are in any other. Cogen was the law enforcement officer who filed charging documents against the officers. “Had she utilized the grand jury fully to investigate, the grand jury may have declined the indictment rather than to indict after having been presented with a self-serving investigation done by her own office”.
In a press conference on Thursday, chief deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow acknowledged the limitations of a trial for addressing the larger questions raised in the court.
“Isn’t that your duty, counsel?” “I can only imagine this is an attempt to divert attention”, said Mathis in a statement. “What else is out there that you didn’t turn over?” Gray; Caesar Goodson, who drove the van that transported Mr.
Some legal experts pointed out that despite Mosby’s mistakes, this was a hard case to win. He saw no evidence of a rough ride and no camera was inside the van, so there is no way to figure out what happened inside of it, no one knows how or when Freddie Gray was injured, and although prisoners are supposed to be secured inside the van, it is not mandated.
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Still, Hill-Aston said she understands the decision to drop the charges “based on [Mosby’s] rationale about money and feeling that she was not going to get any convictions, that it would be a waste of the court’s time”.
