I think the charges for Nero, and how they were brought, goes far beyond a joke. Nothing will probably happen to Marilyn Mosby for her disgraceful and unethical conduct and actions in this situation, but a great many people feel that she engaged in malicious political prosecution that was motivated by everything *EXCEPT* justice. That's my opinion.
She should lose her job, and be stripped of her law license, IMO. That would be a good first step toward mending the corruption, IMO.
Having no good sense at all, apparently, I'm gonna wade into this.
What happened to Freddy Gray was wrong, and the wrong of it began when he was arrested without probable cause.
Running away from a cop when one has done nothing wrong is not illegal, and it is even less illegal when one begins running BEFORE one sees a cop, who just happens to be in the vicinity when one is running.
That's when things began to go very wrong very quickly, but I'm going to stay only on Officer Nero's role in the story. Or lack of role.
Nero did not make the decision to arrest Gray, and he was not in fact the arresting officer. The fact that there was no probable cause to arrest Gray is not, in any meaningful sense of the word, Nero's responsibility.
Yet, one of the charges against Nero, the assault charge, was predicated on the very dubious legal proposition that because there was no probable cause to arrest Gray, any action taken against Gray after arrest was an ASSAULT, and here I am talking that charge could have been levied even if nothing whatsoever untoward had happened to Gray after his arrest. The very fact he was taken into custody, according to this innovative charge, constituted an assault on Gray.
Am I relieved the judge had a problem with that charge? Yes. Very. Charging Nero with that nonexistent crime was a mistake, IMO, and finding him guilty of a nonexistent crime would have done nothing to bring justice to Gray who died in police custody without committing a crime.
Neither was Nero responsible for making sure Gray was seat belted in the van. According to LE protocol, the driver of the van, Officer Gooding, bore the responsibility for making sure Gray was securely seat-belted. Not Nero. Again, where is the justice in convicting Nero on a criminal charge for not doing something that he was not responsible for doing?
Nero's has been considered the weakest of all the 6 cases. It shouldn't be any great surprise he was cleared on the charges, and IMO that he was cleared is a sign the system worked, not that it failed.
Gooding the driver's trial is next. His degree of involvement and culpability are greater and so are the charges; my guess (and hope) is he won't walk.