BALTIMORE, Maryland, Friday, July 8, 2016 - Some of the political leaders in Baltimore City are vigorously standing behind the State's Attorney who piled charges upon charges on six veteran police officers who happened to be at the scene on the day when Freddie Gray died. So far, three cases have gone to trial, a fourth is in trial, and three trials are waiting to start. If you do the math, you'll see that there is one too many. This is because the first officer who went to trial chose a jury, and the jury was hung, 11-1 in favor of acquittal. The next two officers, including the van driver who was said to be the "most culpable," have been acquitted and totally exonerated by the judge. They chose to be tried in front of a judge instead of by a jury. Now another trial in front of the same judge is in progress. Meanwhile, many of the six have joined together to sue the State's Attorney, among others, in federal court for defamation of character. Before the trials started, the City settled a civil claim filed by Gray's family for half the national debt.
The presiding justice, veteran Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams, has been strident in his rulings against the City. Williams, who is black, is a former federal prosecutor with an expertise in precisely this kind of crime. He is tolerating no nonsense. His early pre-trial rulings all went against the Defendants. The most important of these rulings - which this writer vigorously criticized - denied the Defendants' joint request for a change of venue. This decision meant that all of the trials would be in Baltimore City, the exact same jurisdiction where Gray died and where riots broke out after the death.
Once the litigation began, and it became all too clear that the State had neither the evidence or trial skills necessary to prove a case against the Defendants, the tenor of the judge's rulings changed. His rulings reflected his distaste for charges brought against Defendants who had nothing to do with the death of the victim. He was especially vehement in his observations about the State's Attorney's interactions with the coroner, whom she tried to brow beat into finding that a homicide had occurred when there was absolutely no evidence to corroborate that charge.
Pressure to drop the remaining charges against the lesser defendants has grown exponentially once the van driver was fully exonerated. But State's Attorney Mosby will not do it. She is banking on the sad reality that a majority of City residents believe that when a defendant dies in police custody, it has to be the police department's fault, regardless of the facts.
More and more it appears that the six officers were charged with no expectation or realistic belief that they were actually guilty. Some of the state's behavior in the case has been downright unseemly, including browbeating a coroner into ruling the death of Gray a homicide even though their inclination was to rule the death accidental. Then, it became clear that the three officers who pursued Gray after Gray bolted from the scene when he saw police arriving, had nothing whatsoever to do with Gray's death. But the State's Attorney would not drop the cases.
Just as unseemly is the allegation by the State that Gray was subjected to a so-called "rough ride" in the police van. This is the theory the State proposes in its opening statement as the cause of Gray's death. The state suggests that the van driver - Officer Goodson - drove the police van so recklessly that Gray was bounced around in the back of the van, where he left without a seat belt on, to the point that his neck was broken. Unfortunately for the State, they have produced no witnesses or physical evidence to corroborate their allegation. The lack of an eyewitness is one thing, but a rough ride could be proven by the injuries to Gray's person, damage to the van, damage to Gray's clothing, etc. No such physical evidence has been produced.
The policeman currently on trial is Lt. Brian Rice, the highest ranking policeman charged in the case. The State has sought to prove that Rice was negligent at the scene and this negligence caused Gray's death. Sadly, for the State, this is not a civil trial where negligence is the desired finding. Negligence is not usually criminal. The Gray family has already been amply compensated.
It is hard to figure what, exactly, Mosby hoped to achieve with these over-wrought charges and trials, other than her own self-aggrandizement. While she was initially portrayed as a national hero for her prompt indictment of the police officers, the aftermath of her actions have been disastrous. All of the cases tried to conclusion, thus far, have resulted in the full exoneration of the officers charged. Furthermore, the judge's findings and rulings bode poorly for the upcoming trials. Meanwhile, Mosby and those who assisted her in going after the six officers have been sued for lots of money. If those trials result in substantial money judgments in favor of the officers, one wonders who the real losers will be.
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