UPDATE: May 21, 2015, 5:49 PM EDT
BALTIMORE (AP) — All six officers charged in the police-custody death of Freddie Gray were indicted by a grand jury, a prosecutor said Thursday.
The indictments were very similar to the charges Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced about three weeks ago. The most serious charge for each officer, ranging from second-degree “depraved heart” murder to assault, still stood.
Gray suffered a critical spinal injury after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, Mosby has said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored, she said.
Mosby said prosecutors had presented evidence to the grand jury for the past two weeks. Some of the charges were changed based on new information, but she didn’t say what that new information was. She also did not take questions.
“As is often the case, during an ongoing investigation, charges can and should be revised based upon the evidence,” Mosby said.
In all, three of the officers had additional charges brought against them while three others had one less charge.
Gray was arrested April 12. He died in a hospital a week later and became a symbol of what protesters say was police brutality against blacks.
Two officers, Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, were indicted on second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
Caesar Goodson, who drove the transport van, faces manslaughter and second-degree “depraved heart” murder. Sgt. Alicia White, Lt. Brian Rice and officer William Porter are each charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
Gray died on April 19, one week after he was critically injured, and his death inspired outrage among Baltimore residents that spawned protests that at least two points gave way to violence, looting and arson. In the wake of the riots, Democratic Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake implemented a curfew for all Baltimore residents, and Republican Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency.
Gray was arrested in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore. According to court documents,Gray made eye contact with a police officer and took off running. He was apprehended two blocks away and arrested for possession of what Miller wrote in charging documents is illegal under a city ordinance.
Mosby said the arrest was unlawful because the knife is legal under state law.
None of the officers secured Gray’s seatbelt in the van, a violation of police policy. Soon after he was placed in the van, Goodson stopped to secure him with leg irons because he had become “irate,” police said.
After a ride that included several more stops, including one to pick up a second passenger, the van arrived at the Western District station house. By that time, Gray was non-responsive.
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Dominoes…
The broken neck is a big tell, but this whole sorted mess will only become clear when we learn how his larynx was crushed. That didn’t happen from being bounced around between stop signs. One of these fine officers strangled this man, and then stuffed him back into the van without a seatbelt for plausible deniability. And the rest are standing behind the Blue Wall. Every single one of them should be doing 25 to Life as far as I’m concerned.
Grand juries do what prosecutors want them to do. So, I think one thing that this Grand Jury didn’t do merits a lot more discussion than it’s getting. I watched the State’s Attorney’s press conference and was pretty much stunned by the fact that she totally dropped the threshold claim she had initially made. Initially, she claimed a blatant false arrest by the officers who claimed that Grey had an illegal spring loaded (switch blade) knife. She excoriated the police on that and asserted -with no caveats - that Grey had no such knife, and therefore the arrest was “false imprisonment” from the beginning. The attorneys for the officers directly and bitterly challenged her, but she re asserted her claim. But, now, with not so much as a comment, let alone an apology, she has totally dropped this critical element of her case. I think it was highly unprofessional of her to do so and not mention, let alone explain, this dramatic reversal at her press conference and colors everything else she has asserted. I take no position on whether or not the officers are guilty as charged, but I am quickly developing views of the prosecutor-- and they are not positive. I’d be happy to get feedback - onto or con - from others.
Since the knife only came up after he was falsely detained, it wouldn’t matter if it was a full scale illegal switchblade or not. It’s discovery would be tossed out anyway as tainted fruit of an illegal search and seizure. It would only matter if the knife was seen prior to his detainment, and not one officer has ever claimed that was so. And even if his pockets has been stuffed with a dozen illegal knives, it still doesn’t give the cops the right to murder the man in cold blood.
Thanks for your response; I appreciate it. But I don’t think you’re right. Under applicable law, the mere carrying of the illegal knife is enough. It is of no legal moment whether or not the police saw it prior to or at the moment of arrest, because under US Supreme Court decisions, the mere act of flight was enough for the officers to stop and interrogate Grey. And the police determined (it seems now correctly) that he was carrying an illegal spring loaded knife at that time. The State’s Attorney obviously knew the importance of this, because she originally went to such lengths to contradict the officers about the knife and thus draw a picture of lying, lawless police officers. Now, it turns out she was wrong and she is trying to deflect public attention, let alone scrutiny, of her error. I hold no brief for the officers, but I am increasingly suspicious of the prosecutor.