Baltimore police officer acquitted of all charges in Freddie Gray's death
The Baltimore police officer facing the most serious charges in the death of Freddie Gray after a ride in a police van was acquitted today of all charges by a circuit judge who heard the case without a jury, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. had had been charged with second-degree “depraved heart murder,” as well as six other charges, including three for manslaughter. Judge Barry Williams discounted the prosecution’s theory of Goodson having deliberately given Gray a “rough ride” on the way to the police station after Gray’s arrest.
“The court finds there is insufficient evidence that the defendant gave or intended to give Mr. Gray a rough ride,” Judge Williams said, according to the New York Times’ account of the hearing. Williams added that there had not been “evidence presented at this trial that the defendant intended for any crime to happen.”
Gray died a week after his arrest and ride in the police van in April 2015, resulting in several days of protests, violence and rioting that ended after the governor ordered the National Guard in to protect the city and citizens.
Five other officers were indicted in the matter, and three trials thus far have resulted in no convictions. Officer William Porter’s case ended in a hung jury and mistrial last December and last month Officer Edward Nero was acquitted in a bench trial before Judge Williams, according to the Baltimore Sun’s report. That story gives the dates for upcoming trials of three other officers.
Goodson’s acquittal on the most serious charges jeopardizes the other cases, according to the Baltimore Sun’s report.
Judge Williams found that there were a number of “equally plausible scenarios” for when Gray’s injury occurred, keying on testimony by medical witnesses that the injury might have been progressive over a period of time in the van.
“This injury manifested itself internally,” the judge said. “How would the average person without medical training know?”
Judge Williams is a former city prosecutor who investigated misconduct for the Justice Department.
He said the prosecution’s theory of a deliberate “rough ride” involves an “inflammatory term” that is “not to be taken lightly” and that the state did not prove the case.
The judge said that there “may have been a mistake, or may have been a bad judgment,” but his actions did not rise “above mere civil negligence.”
The Times reports that a few dozen demonstrators were outside the courthouse after the verdict and chanted, “Freddie Gray should be with us today.”
Goodson’s defense lawyer, Warren Brown, said “this was the state’s Waterloo.”
