Prosecutors abandon case against police in death of Freddie Gray
BALTIMORE » More than a year after a black man suffered a broken neck in a police van, the effort to hold six officers criminally responsible for his death collapsed Wednesday when the city dropped all charges in the case that tore Baltimore apart and exposed deep fissures between the police, prosecutors and the people.
A day before another trial was to begin, prosecutors dismissed charges against three remaining officers, blaming police for a biased investigation that failed to produce a single conviction in the death of Freddie Gray.
Gray, 25, was fatally injured in April 2015 while he was handcuffed and shackled but left otherwise unrestrained in the back of the van. His death added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, set off massive protests and led to the city’s worst riots in decades.
Prosecutors suffered blow after crippling blow in the courtroom. A judge acquitted three other officers, including the van driver who prosecutors considered the most responsible and another officer who was the highest-ranking of the group. A mistrial was declared for a fourth officer after a jury deadlocked. Authorities had planned to retry him.
The case took shape soon after the rioting, when Democratic State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby confidently announced the charges atop a sweeping staircase across from City Hall. At the time, she said her decision was based not only on the police investigation but an independent investigation conducted by her office.
“To the youth of the city: I will seek justice on your behalf,” she said. “This is a moment. 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 outlined what prosecutors have called sabotage, saying officers who were witnesses were also part of the department’s investigative team. She said “obvious questions” weren’t asked during interrogations. She alleged lead detectives were slow to provide information and failed to execute search warrants for key text messages. She also accused investigators of creating notes after the case was launched to contradict the medical examiner’s conclusion that Gray’s death was a homicide.
“We’ve all borne witness to an inherent bias that is a direct result of when police police themselves,” Mosby said.
Prosecutors suffered significant setbacks in nearly every trial presented before Circuit Judge Barry Williams. At several points, the judge berated them for failing to turn over evidence to the officers’ attorneys.
At the trial for Lt. Brian Rice, the judge sanctioned prosecutors by preventing them from using Rice’s training records as evidence. During the trial for Officer Caesar Goodson, the van driver, prosecutors said Goodson had given Gray a “rough ride,” deliberately driving erratically to injure the prisoner. After the state failed to present any evidence to support that theory, prosecutors all but abandoned the notion.
After Officer Garrett Miller testified that he alone arrested Gray outside the Gilmor Homes complex, prosecutors changed their theory of assault in Officer Edward Nero’s case, arguing that any officer who arrests a suspect without probable cause could be liable for prosecution.