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Baltimore Officer in Freddie Gray Case Is Cleared of All Charges Baltimore Officer in Freddie Gray Case Is Cleared of All Charges
(about 1 hour later)
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray sustained a fatal spinal injury was acquitted on Thursday of second-degree murder and six lesser charges, leaving prosecutors still without a conviction after three high-profile trials in a case that has shaken this city.BALTIMORE — The Baltimore police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray sustained a fatal spinal injury was acquitted on Thursday of second-degree murder and six lesser charges, leaving prosecutors still without a conviction after three high-profile trials in a case that has shaken this city.
“The court finds there is insufficient evidence that the defendant gave or intended to give Mr. Gray a rough ride,” said Judge Barry G. Williams, reading his ruling softly but clearly in a cavernous downtown courtroom. Judge Williams said that had not been “evidence presented at this trial that the defendant intended for any crime to happen.” In his ruling, Judge Barry G. Williams rejected the prosecution’s claim that the officer, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., had given Mr. Gray a “rough ride” in the van, intentionally putting him at risk for an injury by taking a wide turn while Mr. Gray was not secured with a seatbelt.
The officer, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., sat very quietly watching the judge as the verdict was read. Afterward, he hugged his family and some of the other officers charged in the case. “The court finds there is insufficient evidence that the defendant gave or intended to give Mr. Gray a rough ride,” Judge Williams, said, adding that there had not been “evidence presented at this trial that the defendant intended for any crime to happen.”
The death of Mr. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, in April of last year spurred days of violent protests that prompted the governor to call in the National Guard and put the city at the center of a wrenching national debate over race and policing. The state’s attorney, Marilyn J. Mosby, stood on the steps of the city’s War Memorial and told residents that she would “deliver justice” on their behalf. Ms. Mosby then took the unusual step of charging six officers in Mr. Gray’s fatal arrest and death, reserving the steepest charge — second-degree “depraved heart” murder — for Officer Goodson. Office Goodson sat very quietly watching the judge as the verdict was read. Afterward, he hugged his family and some of the other officers charged in the case.
The death of Mr. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, in April of last year spurred days of violent protests that prompted the governor to call in the National Guard and put the city at the center of a wrenching national debate over race and policing. The state’s attorney, Marilyn J. Mosby, stood on the steps of the city’s War Memorial and told residents that she would “deliver justice” on their behalf. Ms. Mosby then took the unusual step of charging six officers in Mr. Gray’s fatal arrest and death, reserving the steepest charge — second-degree “depraved heart” murder — for Officer Goodson, who is also black.
Demonstrators and activists from the Black Lives Matter movement hailed the charges, but they were criticized by others as politically motivated or too ambitious. The two other trials have ended without convictions. The first trial, of Officer William G. Porter, who faced manslaughter and assault charges, ended with a hung jury in December. Last month, Officer Edward M. Nero was acquitted of four charges, including assault and reckless endangerment, for his role in Mr. Gray’s initial arrest. Like Officer Nero, Officer Goodson elected to have the judge, rather than a jury, decide his fate.Demonstrators and activists from the Black Lives Matter movement hailed the charges, but they were criticized by others as politically motivated or too ambitious. The two other trials have ended without convictions. The first trial, of Officer William G. Porter, who faced manslaughter and assault charges, ended with a hung jury in December. Last month, Officer Edward M. Nero was acquitted of four charges, including assault and reckless endangerment, for his role in Mr. Gray’s initial arrest. Like Officer Nero, Officer Goodson elected to have the judge, rather than a jury, decide his fate.
Mr. Gray was arrested after fleeing, apparently unprompted, from officers in the downtrodden Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore, and loaded into a police wagon that made six stops through West Baltimore before it arrived at the Western District police station, where Mr. Gray was found unresponsive and not breathing with a devastating spinal cord injury. Mr. Gray was arrested after fleeing, apparently unprompted, from officers in the downtrodden Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore, and loaded onto the floor of the van. His legs were shackled and his hands cuffed behind his back, and he was not wearing a seatbelt. The police wagon made six stops through West Baltimore before it arrived at the Western District police station, where Mr. Gray was found unresponsive and not breathing with a spinal cord injury.
Prosecutors claimed that Officer Goodson, who is also black, had given Mr. Gray a “rough ride” in the van after he was arrested, intentionally putting him at risk for an injury by taking a wide turn while Mr. Gray was not secured with a seatbelt. They also accused Officer Goodson of breaching his duty to protect a prisoner by failing to get medical care for Mr. Gray, even though he told Officer Porter that he needed it. In his ruling, the judge methodically turned aside the state’s main contentions. The state, he said, had failed to prove that Officer Goodson knew or should have known that Mr. Gray needed medical attention during most of the van ride.
“The intent is to bang him around,” a prosecutor, Michael Schatzow, said during his closing argument. He added, “The consequences to the prisoner were worse than what he anticipated.” Prosecutors, he said, had also “failed to prove behind a reasonable doubt that the defendant drove in a criminally negligent manner.”
But lawyers for Officer Goodson, 46, said that their client had acted in accordance with his training, and that Mr. Gray’s death was an unintentional accident that happened because he stood up in the van during the ride. Prosecutors had also claimed that Officer Goodson had a duty to place a seatbelt on Mr. Gray, and failed to do so. Judge Williams said there was a point, during the van’s fourth stop, when Officer Goodson should have reassessed whether it was possible to put a seatbelt on Mr. Gray.
“Mr. Gray created a high degree of risk,” a defense lawyer, Matthew Fraling, said on Monday. Referring to the prosecutors, he added: “They have failed to cobble together any type of case that’s supported by reasonable inferences, let along the evidence.” “Here, the failure to seatbelt may have been a mistake, or may have been bad judgment,” Judge Williams said, but the state had not shown it was a crime.
What is known is this: Mr. Gray was loaded onto the floor of the van. His legs were shackled, his hands cuffed behind his back, and he was not wearing a seatbelt as the van was driven through West Baltimore. To some residents of Baltimore, that seemed dangerous enough. Outside the courthouse, immediately after the verdict, a few dozen demonstrators gathered and chanted, “Freddie Gray should be with us today.”
“When you talk to people in the street, a rough ride is a rough ride,” said Tessa Hill-Aston, the president of the Baltimore chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. “In the court, it looks different.” “This,” said Warren Brown, a defense lawyer in Baltimore, “was the state’s Waterloo.”
Legal experts who have been following the trial said the failure to put a seatbelt on Mr. Gray — which the defense said was because of the officers’ concern for their own safety — and a single wide right turn caught on video were not on their own adequate evidence to prove in court that Mr. Gray had received a rough ride.
“It’s one thing to say I think that might have been what happened, sitting around and discussing policing conditions and concerns in Baltimore, and what kind of policy changes we need to have, even what kind of administrative penalties an officer should face,” said David Jaros, an associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore. “It’s another thing to sort of jump to proving the elements of a crime.”
The prosecution’s witnesses said they had not seen sudden stops or abrupt turns in the video they had reviewed, and one testified that he could not say whether a rough ride had occurred — admissions that legal observers said imperiled the charge of second-degree depraved heart murder, which requires prosecutors to show wanton and reckless disregard for human life.