Freddy Gray Verdict #2. Not Guilty

Hope4More

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Officer Nero found not guilty on all charges. Billy Murphy, civil rights activist and attorney for Gray's family, told local media immediately after the 20 minute verdict was read he thought the judge had done a good job, and that Baltimoreans had no reason to be angry.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake issued a statement that Officer Nero is still facing an internal (administrative) investigation on the charges, and called for any demonstrations about the verdict to be peaceful.

Before the verdict was read, media far outnumbered the half dozen or so "protestors" waiting outside the court house. Now that local media has announced the verdict and is focusing on the fear of violence, a few other protestors have gathered and expressed their opinion the verdicts were unfair.
 
Local news media have copters in the air, looking for trouble. The largest related gathering so far has of 20-30 people, one of them Officer Nero, being surrounded by an escort of LE and media as he made his way out of the courthouse and to a nearby parking garage.

The street traffic in front of the courthouse looks no different than on any other midday in town.
 
Legal analysts: now that Nero has been cleared of all charges, he can be compelled to testify in the remaining trials of officers charged with Freddy Gray's death.
 
Before the verdict was read, media far outnumbered the half dozen or so "protestors" waiting outside the court house.

rsbm

Just curious -- why put 'protestors' in quotation marks?
 
Officer Nero found not guilty on all charges.

"Good."

I'm glad "Officer Nero" was "exonerated" by the "justice system."

Now if only the "Mayor" and the "D.A." would stop playing "politics" with people's "lives."
 
rsbm

Just curious -- why put 'protestors' in quotation marks?

Because, though the media called them that, none of the 5 people filmed waiting for the verdict called themselves protestors or said they were there to protest, none carried signs, none said they were anything other than they cared about the trial and wanted to be there for the verdict.

Don't think I need to point out that only 5 people in a city of several hundreds of thousands is a rather minimal turnout.
 
"Good."

I'm glad "Officer Nero" was "exonerated" by the "justice system."

Now if only the "Mayor" and the "D.A." would stop playing "politics" with people's "lives."


I assume those quotations are in response to my mine? They weren't an expression of opinion, but of fact. There were no protestors to be found outside that courthouse today.

That doesn't mean there weren't people in Baltimore who disagree with the verdict, and no doubt there are plenty of strong feelings in opposition being expressed as I type this.

They are not, however, being expressed in groups outdoors that are large enough to be spotted by the news helicopters circling around looking for them.
 
I am probably going to shut this thread down. I have no patience today for posters who stir trouble whenever there is a case that focuses on race. It is equally bad on both sides.
Stop arguing about "" and talk about the verdict.
If this thread goes slightly off the rails it's coming down.
Tricia
 
This is a good article from the Baltimore Sun, published last Thursday, that reports on the trial itself as it was in progress:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-nero-closing-20160519-story.html

Prosecutors, defense disagree in closings on what constitutes an assault at Officer Edward Nero's trial
The Baltimore Sun
Thursday May 19, 2016


“In an unprecedented effort to attach criminal liability to everyday policing tactics, prosecutors zeroed in Thursday on a two-minute interaction to argue that Officer Edward Nero assaulted Freddie Gray.

They said Nero did so not by injuring Gray in any way, but by detaining him without asking why the stop was justified.

Under intense questioning from Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams during closing arguments in Nero's trial, Deputy State's Attorney Janice Bledsoe acknowledged the potentially broad implications of the theory — saying such scenarios routinely play out between police and Baltimore citizens.

"That's what happens in the city all the time. People get jacked up in the city all the time," Bledsoe said.

"Every time there is an arrest without probable cause, it is a crime?" Williams repeatedly asked, until Bledsoe hesitantly replied that it would depend on the circumstances.

Marc Zayon, Nero's attorney, argued that his client followed established legal precedent surrounding when and how police officers may stop fleeing suspects. Even if Nero had strayed from such precedent, Zayon said, it wouldn't amount to a crime.

"Like it or not, that's the law," Zayon said, glancing at the prosecutors.

The discussion illustrated one of the potentially most far-reaching assertions in the state's cases against Nero and the five other officers charged in Gray's arrest and death: that officers who stray from laws surrounding the search and seizure of suspects are not only liable to administrative reprimand, the tossing of evidence in court and civil lawsuits, but criminal charges as well.”​

Reading it made it easy for me to see how the Judge arrived at his decision.
 
"I'm trying to figure out what you're arguing," Williams said of the state's theory of assault.

LOL.
 
So the driver's trial is coming up next, I believe. I wonder if he will choose jury trial or a judge? I think it will be a mistake to assume this judge will ALWAYS rule Not Guilty.
 
I am probably going to shut this thread down. I have no patience today for posters who stir trouble whenever there is a case that focuses on race. It is equally bad on both sides.
Stop arguing about "" and talk about the verdict.
If this thread goes slightly off the rails it's coming down.
Tricia


I have no interest in arguing about race, and for myself, don't think about the issues in the Freddy Gray trials in terms of race. There are a lot of pretty significant legal aspects of these cases being adjudicated, weighed, and discussed, at least locally, and they are issues of interest.

But the city's response to these verdicts is equally newsworthy, IMO. This is the second trial to end with an outcome many local leaders feared would cause a violent response, and the second time no such violent response was forthcoming.

This time around, not only was there a lack of violence, there was a lack of much attention even being paid to Nero's trial or to the verdict being handed down today. IMO, that apparent indifference, whatever the various reasons for it, is rather remarkable.
 
I do believe the driver is the most likely to be found culpable in Gray's death.
 
I do believe the driver is the most likely to be found culpable in Gray's death.

If the DA had just gone after the driver, and not all of the other cops as well, it would not have caused so much outrage in the police department, in my opinion. A reasonable person can understand how thew driver might be looked at as the responsible party when someone dies during their ride in the van.

But this case brought against Nero was a joke, imo. :cow:
 
So the driver's trial is coming up next, I believe. I wonder if he will choose jury trial or a judge? I think it will be a mistake to assume this judge will ALWAYS rule Not Guilty.


Of course it would be a mistake to assume ahead of time how any judge will rule. I think this judge did an exceptionally good job in general, but especially in the care that he took while reading his verdicts, explaining each charge and why/how it was the State had failed to meet the required burden of proof. IMO it says a lot that even the attorney for Freddy Gray's family did not fault the judge for the conclusions he reached.
 
Now that Officer Nero was found NG will he be able to get his job back?
 
Now that Officer Nero was found NG will he be able to get his job back?

According to the statement of Nero's attorney, which I saw on CNN, it was stated that he was proudly going back to work at the same job....
 
Very predictable. It’s what happens 99% of the time. The cops are found not guilty in a criminal court, but guilty in a civil court, and the city pays out 6.5 million dollars. The others will be found not guilty too. Nothing will change, the police department will go on with business as usual, until it happens again, and then the cycle will repeat again, along with the riots.

I have long since given up any hope of ever seeing anything change. :(
 

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