Second acquittal over death of black man in police custody Far-Right falls short in close election
Prosecutors failed for the second time in their bid to hold Baltimore police accountable for the arrest and death of Freddie Gray when an officer was acquitted yesterday in the racially charged case that triggered riots a year ago.
A judge cleared Officer Edward Nero of assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct, concluding that Nero played little role in Gray’s arrest and wasn’t responsible for the failure to buckle the black man into the police van where he suffered a broken neck.
Upon hearing the verdict, Nero hugged his attorney and appeared to wipe away a tear.
Nero, who is white, was the second of six officers charged in the case to stand trial. The manslaughter case against Officer William Porter ended in a mistrial in December when the jury deadlocked. Prosecutors plan to retry him in September.
Nero’s lawyers said he and his wife and family are ‘‘elated that this nightmare is finally over.’’
‘‘The state’s attorney for Baltimore City rushed to charge him, as well as the other five officers, completely disregarding the facts of the case and the applicable law,’’ they said.
Prosecutors had no comment; they are under a gag order.
Trial No. 3 – that of van driver Caesar Goodson, who prosecutors believe is most culpable in Gray’s death – is set to begin in two weeks. He is charged with seconddegree murder.
David Weinstein, a Florida attorney and former federal civil rights prosecutor who has been following the case, said the verdict will probably serve as a ‘‘wake-up call’’ for prosecutors.
‘‘This speaks to the notion a lot of people had when this first happened, which is that it was a rush to judgment.
The state’s attorney was trying to balance what she had with the public outcry and call to action given the climate in Baltimore and across the US concerning policing, and I think she was overreaching.’’
Gray died a week after suffering a spinal injury in the back of the van while he was handcuffed and shackled but not belted in.
His death set off looting and arson that prompted authorities to declare a citywide curfew and call out the National Guard to quell Japanese police are investigating a nationwide money machine heist after nearly 1.4 billion yen (NZ$19 million) was illegally withdrawn from 1400 ATMs in the space of two hours.
Police suspect more than 100 members of an international crime syndicate were behind the meticulously planned robbery, which took place in the early hours of May 15 before banks opened.
Cash was withdrawn almost simultaneously across Tokyo and 16 other prefectures using as many as 1600 counterfeit credit cards containing account information stolen from the South African institution Standard Bank.
The suspects reportedly withdrew cash from ATMs inside Seven-11 convenience stores, with each transaction totalling 100,000 yen, the cash machine limit. Japanese police are believed to have started the painstaking process of checking security cameras in each of the convenience stores in an attempt to identify the culprits. unrest in Baltimore for the first time since the riots that erupted in 1968 over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Gray’s name became a rallying cry in the growing furore over the
Interpol is also helping Japanese police to co-ordinate with the South African authorities and identify anyone w, sources told Kyodo News.
The raids are believed to have started early in the morning, buying suspects more time to leave the country before police investigated the crime.
Ross Linstrom, a spokesman for Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups, confirmed that it had been the ‘‘victim of a sophisticated, co-ordinated fraud incident’’ but insisted none of its customers had been affected.
‘‘This involved the withdrawal of cash using a small number of fictitious cards at various ATMS in Japan,’’ he said.
‘‘Standard Bank has taken swift action to contain the matter and the gross loss to the bank is estimated at 300 million rand (NZ$28.3m). This is prior to any potential recoveries that may serve to reduce the loss,’’ Linstrom said.
The incident is the latest in a string of increasingly sophisticated ATM robberies involving fake credit cards around the world.
One such incident reportedly deaths of black men in with police.
Nero, 30, waived his right to a jury trial, choosing instead to let Circuit Judge Barry Williams decide his fate. clashes involved a pair of heists totalling around £31m (NZ$66.8m) after cyber thieves disabled withdrawal limits on ATMs around the world.
Experts said there was little that customers could do to protect themselves in the event of such attacks.
Dr Steven Murdoch, a security researcher at University College London, said: ‘‘It looks like something has gone wrong at one or both banks and there’s not really anything the customer can do to protect themselves.’’
The South African authorities have recently moved to cut credit card fraud involving its banks, including measures such as rollingout chip and pin technology and tightening up internal fraud-check systems.
Kalyani Pillay, chief executive of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, said what happened in Japan was ‘‘an incident of transnational organised crime that was well planned and executed’’.
‘‘The South African banking industry will provide full support to both the bank and law enforcement where possible,’’ she said. Austria stepped back from the brink of becoming the first EU country to elect a far-Right head of state yesterday, as a Green candidate won the presidency in a surprise result that will be welcomed by Europe’s political establishment.
Alexander van der Bellen, 72, a retired political science professor, scored the narrowest of victories in the second-round vote, beating Norbert Hofer, the far-Right Freedom Party candidate, by just 31,000 votes.
The final result was not clear until yesterday afternoon, a full day after voting ended, and came down to postal votes. Official results gave van der Bellen 50.3 per cent, ahead of Hofer on 49.7 per cent.
Hofer’s failure will be a blow to Europe’s populist movements, including France’s National Front and Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), who had hoped a Hofer victory would provide the catalyst for continent-wide gains.
‘‘It’s a relief to see the Austrians reject populism and extremism,’’ Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, wrote on Twitter.
‘‘I am pleased that you are a convinced European and will act in your new role for a strong and reliable European Union,’’ Joachim Gauck, the German president, told van der Bellen.
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, called on van der Bellen to ‘‘unite the country’’. But Christian Kern, the Austrian chancellor, said it was important no-one felt they had voted in vain.
News of Hofer’s defeat received a predictably muted reaction in his home town of Pinkafeld, an hour’s drive south of Vienna. ‘‘I’m disappointed. When I saw the result on the TV I switched it off, I couldn’t watch,’’ said 74-year-old Irene Schutter, a retired school cleaner.
The close result highlighted the the divisions over migration, cultural identity and social values.
Figures from Der Standard newspaper showed universityeducated voters had split 81-19 for van der Bellen, while lower-skilled workers went 86 to 14 for Hofer.