Officer acquitted on all charges in Freddie Gray case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Officer Edward Nero, center, one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray, left a courthouse after being acquitted of all charges in his trial in Baltimore today.
BALTIMORE » A Baltimore officer was acquitted today of assault and other charges in the arrest of Freddie Gray, dealing prosecutors a significant blow in their attempt to hold police accountable for the young black man’s death from injuries he suffered in the back of a police van.
A judge also found Officer Edward Nero not guilty of reckless endangerment and misconduct in office, saying he acted as any reasonable officer would and only touched Gray after he was in handcuffs.
As the verdict was read, Nero dropped his head down and his attorney placed a hand on his back. The courtroom was quiet. When the judge said he was not guilty, Nero stood up and hugged his attorney, and appeared to wipe away a tear.
“The state’s theory has been one of recklessness and negligence,” Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams said. “There has been no evidence that the defendant intended for a crime to occur.”
The assault charge carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and reckless endangerment carried a punishment of up to five years.
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.
Nero, who is white, was one of six officers charged in the case. He waived his right to a jury trial, opting instead to argue his case before judge Williams. A jury trial for Officer William Porter late last year ended in a hung jury when the panel could not reach a decision on manslaughter and other charges. Porter is black.
Gray’s 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.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a statement that Nero will still face an administrative review by the police department.
“We once again ask the citizens to be patient and to allow the entire process to come to a conclusion. 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,” she said.
About a dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse as the verdict was read, but they appeared peaceful in the moments after learning the verdict.
On the morning of April 12, 2015, Nero, Officer Garrett Miller and Lt. Brian Rice were on patrol in Baltimore’s high-crime area of the Western District when Rice made eye contact with Gray and he ran away. Rice called for backup, and Miller and Nero responded. According to testimony, Miller, who’d jumped off his bicycle, caught up with Gray and placed him in handcuffs.
Nero’s attorney, Marc Zayon, said Nero touched Gray to help him up from the ground after he’d been handcuffed and was asking for an inhaler.
Gray was placed in the back of the transport van, seated on the wagon’s bench.
A few blocks away the van stopped, and Rice and Miller took Gray, who police said had been kicking, screaming and shaking the van, out of the wagon, placed him in leg irons and replaced his metal cuffs with plastic ones. The officers, with Nero’s help, loaded Gray back into the van, sliding him into the compartment on his belly and head-first.
That was the second and last time Nero touched Gray, his attorney said during the trial.
Miller testified that he alone arrested Gray, and the judge said he believed him.
Prosecutors said the officers should never have arrested Gray without first patting him down to determine whether or not he was armed and dangerous. In failing to do so, the officers violated the rules for a routine stop. Without probable cause, Gray never should have been taken into custody, they said.
The judge disagreed.
“This court does not find that the defendant detained Gray without probable cause,” Williams said.
The other officers, two white and two black, are set to each have separate trials over the summer and into the fall. They have pleaded not guilty.
25 responses to “Officer acquitted on all charges in Freddie Gray case”
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Good!
Why is that? Let me think …….
Something to watch on CNN or Fox, disgruntled people burning down their city.
Wonderful judge’s decision . And you Klastri don’t think up excuses why the cops should be guilty. The only one who acted reckless was Gray.
It’s been 36 minutes and Klastri hasn’t thought of anything. He must be commenting on another story.
Justice served. End of story.
I posted the following early this morning before the verdict:
The saddest part of this whole affair is that Freddie Gray shouldn’t have been detained by police in the first place, then arrested and later, by whatever means, killed. Put another way, there shouldn’t have been probable cause or reasonable suspicion for police officers to make an arrest.
What’s perhaps been lost in the debate since Gray’s death, now over a year ago, is that the spring-assisted knife he carried is actually legal under Baltimore’s ordinance banning switchblade knives. In the absence of any other crime committed by Gray, police officers had no justification to make an arrest. That they did arrest him and even today maintain the arrest was justified is because of two factors:
First, a police officer of average intelligence quite frankly lacks the simple mechanical sense to recognize the distinction between a switchblade knife and a spring-assisted knife. This ignorance is not by any means limited to police officers. Your average judge, lawyer, scientist and medical doctor probably couldn’t tell you (if posed the question on-the-fly) either.
Second, the Baltimore ordinance cited by the police as justification for arresting Freddie Gray is perhaps not as clearly written as it might be, considering the kind of people who are likely to apply it. I’ve read and fully understand it, but the fact that even more than a few attorneys have demonstrated they cannot, suggests the ordinance is unnecessarily vague and should be rewritten.
It really should give residents of Baltimore (if not the rest of the country) pause, if police officers are acquitted of Gray’s death simply because they couldn’t read well enough to understand a law they felt a duty to enforce. If an acquittal comes down, then no longer will it be true when we say “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
So what you’re effectively stating is that you’re smarter than the police (“of average intelligence”), most attorneys and a sitting judge? I’m also guessing that you didn’t sit through the trial to listen to all of the presented evidence yet you believe you know better. Good grief.
Do you know why Freddie Gray was arrested? It was for the possession of an “illegal knife.” He didn’t have one. That should matter to most thinking people.
By the way, do YOU know the difference between a switchblade knife and an assisted opening knife (without cheating and googling the answer)? If you do, then good. If you don’t, then you’ve proven my point.
Freddie Gray didn’t live to get his day in court as he died or was killed while in police custody. Doesn’t that matter to you?
Gray had been involved in 20 criminal court cases. When cops looked at him in a high crime area he ran away. No normal person would do that, because it raises suspicion he felt guilty of some crime.
Freddie Gray wasn’t arrested for being involved in 20 prior criminal court cases. That would be illegal if it matters to you.
Freddie Gray caused his own death. all these charges are bogus.
In the end we may all have to satisfied that nobody will be held accountable for the death of a prisoner while in police custody.
No hon..the article says he had a criminal record and was on the run from a crime scene. The incident should never have happened but don’t totally exonerate Freddy Gray. By the way, most of the police involved were blacks.
And, if it matters, the judge is black.
Freddie Gray’s arrest wasn’t justified because he had a prior criminal record – as I wrote elsewhere, such an arrest would be illegal. And no, nowhere have I even hinted race was a factor.
It’s not black or white, it’s gray.
Yes power to the police. Orwell must be spinning in his grave.
Ironically, the only cop who might be found guilty (the driver) is black. Most of the cops involved were black. This rookie cop[ had little to do with the innocence as everyone knew. Time for some in the Afro-community to take their own share of responsibility for high crime.
Accountability? That is racist, isn’t it? Got to keep the victim mentality alive.
His sergeant too. He called her, she responded, had him continue to receiving. Lawyers call this failing to supervise in civil matters. Female, Afro-American, probably well educated, she looks young for a sergeant…. at the time.
OK Al, BLM folks. Start burning things!
and please let’s not forget….get your FREE STUFF!!!!
Do you want more rioting? Because this is how you get more rioting.
So guilty judgments should rendered in order to avoid riots. Brilliant.