May 23, 2016
BALTIMORE COP NOT GUILTY
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Freddie Gray arresting officer Edward Nero was found not guilty on all counts by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams Monday morning.
Nero faced second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office.
Nero waived his right to a trial by jury. His bench trial began May 12 and final arguments were heard Thursday.
Gray, a 25-year-old black man from the Sandtown area of Baltimore, died on April 19, 2015 of a spinal cord injury he sustained while in police custody.
His death set off more than a week of protests followed by looting, rioting and arson that prompted a citywide curfew.
“I have to commend Judge Williams on not being influenced by public opinion,” Gray family attorney Billy Murphy told WJZ outside the courtroom. “It’s a very, very difficult job to sit as a judge under these enormously stressful conditions, and once again Barry Williams has shown he is a fair and impartial man… He showed tremendous courage in ruling against public opinion.”
“I don’t think anybody should be upset with this verdict nor do I think anybody should have been elated about a guilty verdict,” he added. “Only the people who sat through this trial and heard all of the evidence have a right to have an opinion about whether his opinion was fair and whether or not it was warranted under the circumstances. So we should all understand that we all have opinions, but unless they’re based on the facts and all of the facts, those opinions are essentially irrelevant to this process.”
Nero is one of six officers who was charged in relation to Gray’s death, and the second to be tried. Officer William Porter’s trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial in December.
Four other officers — Officer Garrett Miller, Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. — have not yet been tried.
Goodson’s trial, which was already delayed once, is set to begin June 6. He was the driver of the van that transported Gray from the spot where he was arrested to the police station. When the van arrived at the Western District police station, Gray was already critically injured and unresponsive.
Goodson faces charges of second-degree depraved heart murder, manslaughter, second-degree assault, two counts of vehicular manslaughter and misconduct in office.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2016/05/23/freddie-gray-arresting-officer-edward-nero-found-not-guilty-on-all-charges/
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