Case against 3 Baltimore officers tossed; prosecutor cites police bias in inquiry into Freddie Gray’s death

BALTIMORE -- Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all remaining charges against three Baltimore police officers awaiting trial in Freddie Gray's death and at the same time accused police of a biased investigation that failed to produce a single conviction.

The decision means that no one will be held criminally responsible for the death of the 25-year-old black man whose neck was broken while he was shackled hands and feet in the back of a police van in April 2015.

A judge had already acquitted three other officers, including the van driver -- considered by prosecutors to be the most responsible for the injuries -- and another officer who was the highest-ranking of the group. A mistrial was declared for a fourth officer when a jury deadlocked, and he had been scheduled for a retrial until his charges were dropped Wednesday.

Gray's death added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement and set off widespread protests and riots in the city.

The case also led the Police Department to overhaul its use-of-force policy. All officers will soon be equipped with body cameras, and the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into allegations of abuse and unlawful arrests by police. The results are expected soon. The officers also face an internal investigation.

Shortly after Wednesday's announcement that charges would be dropped, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby held a news conference, saying there was "a reluctance" and "an obvious bias" among some officers investigating Gray's death.

She walked to the lectern as people chanted "we're with you," and her remarks were punctuated by shouts of support.

Mosby outlined what prosecutors have called sabotage, saying officers who were witnesses were also part of the department's investigative team. She said "obvious questions" weren't asked during interrogations. She alleged that lead detectives were slow to provide information and failed to execute search warrants for key text messages. She also accused investigators of creating notes to contradict the medical examiner's conclusion that Gray's death was a homicide.

"We've all borne witness to an inherent bias that is a direct result of when police police themselves," she said.

"We do not believe Freddie Gray killed himself," she said, standing in front of a mural of Gray in the neighborhood where he was arrested. "We stand by the medical examiner's determination that Freddie Gray's death was a homicide."

Gray's mother, Gloria Darden, stood by Mosby, saying police lied. "I know they lied, and they killed him," she said.

Attorneys for the officers said justice had been served, and they praised the Police Department's investigation.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a statement that Mosby's decision was "wise," and he called on residents to direct their emotions "in a constructive way to reduce violence and strengthen citizen partnerships." He rejected Mosby's accusations that officers involved in the investigation were biased.

The officers involved in Gray's death have sued Mosby, saying she intentionally filed false charges against them.

"The comments made today about our officers by Ms. Mosby were outrageous and uncalled for and simply not true," said Gene Ryan, president of Baltimore's police union.

Ivan Bates, an attorney for Sgt. Alicia White, said everyone wanted to know what happened to Gray.

"The Baltimore city police, they did the investigation and they said it was an accident," he said. "The Baltimore state's attorney had the opportunity to do an investigation, and they did not. It is the Baltimore city state's attorney's office that denied justice to the Gray family and to these officers."

Gray's family received a $6.4 million settlement from the city. At the time, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a statement saying the settlement was in the best interest of a city that was still recovering from unrest.

During his remarks, Bates said Gray and his friends were getting ready to "re-up" and sell drugs at the time of Gray's arrest -- a claim no defense attorney presented at trial. A police investigation, he said, concluded that Gray's death was an accident.

"We have to let the criminal justice system speak for itself," Bates said. "It gets it right."

Prosecutors in the cases against the officers had setbacks in nearly every trial presented before Circuit Judge Barry Williams. At several points, the judge berated them for failing to turn over evidence to the officers' attorneys.

At the trial for Lt. Brian Rice, the judge prevented prosecutors from using Rice's training records as evidence. During the trial for officer Caesar Goodson, the van driver, prosecutors said Goodson had given Gray a "rough ride," deliberately driving erratically to injure the prisoner. After the state failed to present any evidence to support that theory, prosecutors all but abandoned the notion.

After officer Garrett Miller testified that he alone arrested Gray outside the Gilmor Homes complex, prosecutors changed their theory of assault in officer Edward Nero's case, arguing that any officer who arrests a suspect without probable cause could be liable for prosecution.

Wednesday started with a pretrial hearing for Miller, who had faced charges of assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment. But instead of pretrial motions, Chief Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow told the judge that prosecutors were dropping the charges against Miller and the other officers.

Prosecutors had said Gray was illegally arrested after he ran from a bicycle patrol officer and that officers failed to buckle Gray into a seat belt or call a medic when he indicated that he wanted to go to a hospital. He was handcuffed and shackled when he was injured.

After Gray's death, Mosby waited just one day after receiving the Police Department's investigation to file charges. At the time, the tense city was still under a curfew. She posed for magazine photos, sat for TV interviews and appeared onstage at a Prince concert held in Gray's honor.

Gray's death was a flash point in national debate over the deaths of black men killed while in police custody. Three of the officers who were charged are white and three are black. Gray, the judge, the top prosecutor and the mayor are all black. At the time of Gray's death, the city also had a black police chief.

The city's troubles led Rawlings-Blake to fire the police chief and abandon her mayoral re-election campaign.

Information for this article was contributed by Juliet Linderman of The Associated Press; and by Derek Hawkins, Lynh Bui, Peter Hermann and Dana Hedgpeth of The Washington Post.

A Section on 07/28/2016