First Officer Nero; Now "Van Driver" Not Guilty on all counts in Freddie Gray case

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Officer in Freddie Gray case found not guilty on all counts


Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero (C) arrives at the Mitchell Courthouse-West on the
day a judge will issue a vertict in his trial May 23, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. Chip omodevilla/Getty Images

Officer Edward Nero of the Baltimore police department was found not guilty Monday on all counts over the arrest andsubsequent death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man.

Nero had faced assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges. Prosecutors said the 30-year-old unlawfully arrested Gray without probable cause and was negligent when he didn't buckle the prisoner into a seat belt.

Nero opted for a bench trial rather than a jury trial.

After the verdict was read, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake released a statement saying that Nero is still expected to face an administrative review by the city's police department. The mayor seemed to once again refer back to and warn against the violent unrest the gripped the city immediately following Gray's death.


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"We once again ask the citizens to be patient and to allow the entire process to come to a conclusion," Rawlings-Blake said. "In the case of any disturbance in the city, we are prepared to respond. We will protect our neighborhoods, our businesses and the people of our city."

Congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., issued a statement thanking Nero for his service, and said the focus now should be on reforming the criminal justice system.

"I believe that we are on the road to creating a city that uplifts all of its residents," Cummings said. "Today's verdict should not take us off course, instead, it should remind us of the importance of the road ahead."

The Baltimore police officers' union released a statement praising the verdict, adding that Nero's relief is tempered by the fact that five other officers await trial.

Gray died April 19, 2015, a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police transport van while he was handcuffed and shackled but left unrestrained by a seat belt.

His death set off more than a week of protests followed by looting, rioting and arson that prompted a citywide curfew. His name became a rallying cry in the growing national conversation about the treatment of black men by police officers.

Shortly after Gray's death, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby charged six officers. Three of them are black; Nero and two others are white.

Nero's attorney argued that his client didn't arrest Gray and that it is the police van driver's responsibility to buckle in detainees. The defense argued that the officers who responded that day acted responsibly, and called witnesses to bolster their argument that any reasonable officer in Nero's position would have made the same decisions.

The defense also sought to convince the judge that the department's order requiring that all inmates be strapped in is more suggestion than rule because officers are expected to act with discretion based on the circumstances of each situation.

Nero is the second officer to stand trial. Officer William Porter's manslaughter trial ended with a hung jury.

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• Freddie Gray fallout in Baltimore
  
  

 

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Judge Barry Williams


Early on - Commentators and lawyers (including the lawyer for the Freddie Gray family) are
saying that Judge Barry Williams made the RIGHT legal decision in the Edward Nero case.

 

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Caesar Goodson, Baltimore Van Driver Charged in Freddie Gray Death, Acquitted

Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. Goodson was the driver of the van. He is a 45-year-
old and has worked with the Baltimore Police Department since 1999. Baltimore Police



Caesar Goodson, one of the Baltimore police officers tried in the death of Freddie Gray, was found not guilty on all charges by Judge Barry Williams on Thursday.

Goodson's indictment was the pinnacle of the state's case with prosecutors convinced that, as the van driver, he was the most culpable. Goodson was charged with second degree "depraved heart" murder, three different counts of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office.

The chips were stacked against Baltimore prosecutors.

As NBC previously reported, between 2005-2011, no judge in a bench trial has ever convicted an officer for murder or manslaughter in the line of duty, according to data compiled for NBC by criminologist Philip Stinson at Bowling Green State University. "Even to date I still can't recall any instance of a conviction [in that context]," said Stinson.

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Gray died last year of severe spinal and head injuries sustained while riding in the back of a police van. His death sparked violent riots and protests in Baltimore prompting newly minted State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to pursue charges on the half dozen officers involved with Gray's arrest.

Related: Why Freddie Gray Case Could Make or Break Marilyn Mosby

"I heard your call for no justice, no peace. Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man," said Mosby at a press conference.

The verdict came after seven days of heated courtroom battle, in one of the most closely examined of all the trials.

The crux of the state's argument predominantly relied on two failures by Goodson—neither seat belting nor getting prompt medical attention for Gray.

"Officer Goodson never seat belted Mr. Gray and that is not what a reasonable officer would do," said prosecutor Janice Bledsoe in closing arguments. "He had a duty to keep Mr. Gray safe, seat belting would have kept Mr. Gray safe."

Bledsoe also said in her argument that "repeatedly failing to get medical care" goes to the "depraved heart" element of the murder charge.

But Judge Williams questioned both of these theories as well as the theory that Goodson gave a "rough ride," which he did not find himself completely convinced of during the trial.

"The state brought it up," he said. "The state told the world it was a rough ride, now show me evidence of that," he skeptically asked prosecutors during his closing statement.

The State's Attorney's Office highly anticipated a conviction for Goodson. Officer William Porter's trial ended in a hung jury late last year and Officer Edward Nero was acquitted last month.

As of now, prosecutors are only at the halfway point of their plan. There are three more officers in queue awaiting trial, Lieutenant Brian Rice, Sergeant Alicia White, and Officer Garrett Miller.

Goodson's trial is now closed, but the aftermath will linger says Renee Hutchins, a professor at the University Of Maryland Carey School Of Law.

The events of this trial will put further tension on the already strained relationship between prosecutors and police in Baltimore she said. It is these kinds of foreseeable conflicts between two offices that work so closely why independent prosecutors are usually brought in, she said.
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The case was precarious and always had a real question as to "the actual cause of death," said former Maryland prosecutor Ahmet Hisim. Prosecutors had to work backwards to figure out how and why Gray died, which is a difficult task, says he said.

"No one really knows what happened in the back of that van."


SOURCE: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-charged-freddie-gray-death-acquitted-n595361


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