One by one, the Baltimore officers involved in the Freddie Gray case are being cleared on all charges. Six officers were indicted by a grand jury after Gray’s April 2015 death while in police custody. A jury couldn’t reach a verdict regarding officer William Porter’s involvement in this case. But May saw arresting officer Edward Nero go free on charges of reckless endangerment, assault, and misconduct in office. In June, the same outcome arrived for Ceasar Goodson, who drove the van in which Gray broke his neck, for a host of charges including depraved heart murder and manslaughter.
Now the third acquittal in his case has arrived. Lt. Brian Rice initiated Gray’s police chase while on bike patrol and was cleared on several charges, including involuntary manslaughter. He was the highest ranking of all officers involved in the case. Like Nero, Rice waved his right to a jury trial, and Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams announced his decision in open court. Gray died a week after his injuries associated with not being provided with a seat belt. The ruling was summarized by Baltimore defense attorney Warren Alperstein, who argued that the state simply didn’t prove its case due to Maryland’s seat-belt law:
“The prosecutor [tried to] prove Lt. Rice breeched a duty to safeguard Freddie Gray and a failure to use a seat belt ultimately caused a catastrophe … and that a reasonable officer ‘similarly situated’ would have restrained Freddie Gray with a seat belt and that the end result is criminal conduct. It’s a hard case to make in [Maryland] where there is no law requiring the use of a seatbelt in the back seat of a vehicle.”
In announcing the verdicts, Williams stated that the bar for criminal negligence is greater than civil negligence, and that the state did not prove willful and intentional neglect on the part of Rice to secure Gray. Nor did the state prove, Williams said, that Rice was aware of new police guidelines requiring officers to seat belt detainees. Even then, Williams said, failure to follow a departmental general order doesn’t necessarily constitute a crime.
Gray’s death drew media attention and anti-brutality protests similar to what we’re seeing this summer after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. And the indictments further illuminated the growing concern over police misconduct and procedure, including undue force, not only in Baltimore but across the nation.
The fates of the remaining officers in this case will be decided this year. Garret Miller goes to trial later this month, and William Porter’s trial has been rescheduled for September. The lone female officer on the case, Alicia White, will be tried in October.
(Via Baltimore Magazine)