The Six Officers Charged For The Murder Of Freddie Gray Have Been Indicted
Criminal charges against six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray will be upheld, a judge ruled Wednesday. The Baltimore court proceedings also culminated in the denial of defense lawyers' requests to remove state attorney Marilyn Mosby from the case. Opponents of Mosby had argued that Mosby's news conference, during which she announced charges ranging from Second Degree Depraved Heart Murder to Reckless Endangerment, fell into prosecutorial misconduct; her actions were painted as a "pep rally" by defendants of the officers, a claim that ultimately failed to win over circuit court judge Barry G. Williams.
The New York Times reports that Williams admitted to being "troubled" by some of Mosby's past remarks, but that the prosecutor's words "do not rise to the level where the defendants’ rights to a fair trial have been violated."
The six officers involved in the case have all been implicated in Gray's death, after his spinal cord was severely damaged in a police van following a disputed arrest. Gray's death, and local law enforcement's seemingly deceitful attempts to cover it up, incited massive demonstrations and arrests across Baltimore, some of which turned brutally violent and damaging to both the city and its people. The Times reports that at Wednesday's hearing, attorney's defending one of the police officers claimed Ms. Mosby "basically accepted and encouraged the public’s cry of ‘No justice, no peace.'" During the court proceedings, dozens gathered outside the Baltimore courthouse, leading chants for justice and an end to "killer police"; tweets from the scene have revealed that at least one demonstrator was arrested during a march.
Lawyers have also requested that the Baltimore judge allow the six officers to be tried individually, rather than as a group, and that the trial be moved outside of Baltimore, where it is presumed that jury members will be less biased as a result of the news coverage of Gray's death and the violence that followed it. A decision on the possible relocation of the trial is expected to come during a Sept. 10 hearing.
