Cost to city of officers’ trials is estimated at $7.4 million

Baltimore has paid an estimated $7.47 million for the trials of police officers charged and acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray, city officials said.

The Police Department accrued a little more than $7 million in costs, including $4.5 million for overtime and $2.5 million for supplies such as riot gear, while the state’s attorneys office accounted for the remaining $450,000, according to Anthony McCarthy, spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

On Wednesday, prosecutors dropped all remaining charges against the officers, ending the high-profile trials that began in December.

Officer William Porter’s trial ended with a hung jury and mistrial. Officers Edward Nero, Caesar Goodson Jr. and Lt. Brian Rice were acquitted. Officers Porter, Garrett Miller and Sgt. Alicia White were scheduled for trials when the charges were dropped Wednesday.

Baltimore City alone will foot the bill, McCarthy said.

Gov. Larry Hogan has called the prosecutions a waste of time and money, especially after Baltimore State’s At- torney Marilyn J. Mosby failed to win convictions in four trials.

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the city’s NAACP chapter, said she was “very disappointed” in the outcome of the trials.

“I’ve been advocating that the cases should move forward,” she said.

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.”

But the trials were not the only costs. In September, the city approved a $6.4 million payout to the Gray family, accepting all civil liability. The West Baltimore man suffered fatal spinal injuries while being transported in a police van.

Prosecution costs and overtime pay for police has reached at least six figures in other high-profile cases. The five-week trial in Florida for George Zimmerman — the Neighborhood Watch volunteer acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin — cost the public at least $902,000, The Orlando Sentinel reported in 2013. office had an opportunity to do an in-depth investigation, and they did not.”

Lt. Gene Ryan, the union president, said, “Justice has been done.” He also described Mosby’s comments at her news conference as “outrageous” and “uncalled for.”

Ryan said he expects the six officers to return to work, though all of them face possible discipline.

The conclusion of the Gray case comes at a pivotal moment for Baltimore and policecommunity relations.

The Justice Department is expected to release soon the results of a wide-ranging civil-rights investigation into the Police Department.

Such reviews in other cities have resulted in increased spending on policing and findings of shortcomings and misguided practices.