Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said on Wednesday that she stands by the determination that Freddie Gray’s death was a homicide.
{mosads}”We do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself,” Mosby said Wednesday during a news conference.
“However, after much thought and prayer, it has become clear to me that without being able to work with an independent investigatory agency from the very start, without having a say in the election about whether our cases precede in front of a judge or a jury, without communal oversight of police in this community, without real substantive reforms to the criminal justice system — we could try this case 100 times and cases just like it and we would still end up with the same result.”
On Wednesday, prosecutors dropped all charges against the remaining officers charged in connection with the death of Gray, an African-American man who died last year from spinal injuries he suffered while under arrest in a police van.
His death spurred protests and riots in Baltimore.
Six officers had been charged in connection with Gray’s death; a Baltimore judge had previously acquitted three of the officers, and the remaining three were scheduled to go to trial before the same judge.
During the news conference Wednesday, Mosby said the decision to prosecute six police officers “was not and has never been an indictment on the entire Baltimore Police Department.”
“I know first hand the sacrifices, the dedication, the commitment it takes to protect and serve our community. For those that believe I’m anti-police, it’s simply not the case, I’m anti police-brutality.”
In this case, Mosby said her office learned “police investigating police … was problematic.”
“There was a reluctance and an obvious bias that was consistently exemplified not by the entire Baltimore Police Department but by individuals within the Baltimore Police Department at every stage of the investigation,” she said.
Mosby continued, saying the judge in the case made it clear he didn’t agree with the state’s theory in the case.
“The judge has acquitted three of these officers … in light of these consistent outcomes, the likelihood of the remaining defendant’s decision to elect a bench trial with this very same judge is highly probably and unfortunately, so is the outcome,” she said.
As a mother, she said her decision not to proceed with trials against the remaining three officers is “agonizing.”
“However as a chief prosecutor elected by the citizens of Baltimore, I must consider the dismal likelihood of conviction at this point,” she said.
At the end of the news conference, Mosby said the system is in need of reform vowed to continue to “fight for a fair and equitable justice system for all … so that whatever happened to Freddie Gray never happens to another person in this community again.”