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After last year’s unrest in Baltimore, federal prosecutors vowed to bring rioters to justice. On Friday, they made good on their promise, sending one man to prison for 15 years. Prosecutors say 20-year-old Donta Betts was one of the key players in the Freddie Gray riots, looting, starting fires and even attacking police Squirting lighter fluid on a pile of propane cylinders, the infamous photo of Betts from the Freddie Gray riots went viral. He will now spend 15 years behind bars. “Donta Betts was a menace to society here in Baltimore. The scope of the criminal activity he was...

A Baltimore rapper named Tyriece Travon Watson, who went by the stage name Lor Scoota, was fatally shot in broad daylight at a busy intersection in Friday, police said. He was 23 years old. Watson had just left a charity basketball in Baltimore game calling for "peace in the streets" when he was killed. He was driving in his car when an unknown black male wearing a white bandana stepped into the street and opened fire, Baltimore police said. Watson was brought to a local hospital but died from his injuries.

Baltimore had the highest increase in homicides in the nation last year, a criminologist commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice reported, with more than twice as many extra killings as the three cities that tied for second. The city suffered 127 more homicides in 2015 than in the previous year, Richard Rosenfeld wrote in "Documenting and Explaining the 2015 Homicide Rise: Research Directions," released this month by the Justice Department. Chicago, Houston and Milwaukee came in second with 61 more killings. Cleveland and Washington had 57 more.

Detective Dawnyell Taylor said in a daily log of case notes on the investigation that a prosecutor handed her a four-page, typed narrative at the courthouse just before she appeared before the grand jury. "As I read over the narrative it had several things that I found to be inconsistent with our investigation," Taylor wrote, adding: "I thought the statements in the narrative were misquoted."

With the complete acquittal of Caesar Goodson this week, the argument being made by Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has essentially imploded. Goodson was allegedly the “most culpable” in the death of Freddie Gray and the one officer involved in the incident who might have been convicted on any sort of charges. There are still four more trials slated to take place, however, all of which would grind more salt into the wounds between City Hall and the police force. Should they even continue? Legal experts are weighing in on the subject and there’s a fair case to to be...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Marilyn Mosby is 0-for-3. A third Baltimore cop was found not guilty of murder in the Freddie Gray case. This was officer Caesar Goodson, who Mosby told us was the most likely to be convicted. She's being humiliated here and is being shown to be an incompetent, unqualified prosecutor. BREAK TRANSCRIPT Yeah, I know. The Freddie Gray van driver: Not guilty. Three not guilties, all decisions from a judge. The prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, humiliated and embarrassed at Baltimore city hall. What a joke it was from the beginning. Remember all the great things that were ahead for...

The Baltimore police officer facing the most serious charges in the death of Freddie Gray has been cleared on all counts, marking the second acquittal of an officer charged in connection with Gray's death. A third officer's trial ended in a hung jury. Police van driver Officer Caesar Goodson, 46, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office after Gray's death. He elected to be tried by a judge rather than by a jury. Judge Barry Williams found him not guilty on all seven charges Thursday. In the opinion he read, Williams said the prosecution failed...

House Democrats ended their 25-hour sit-in over gun control legislation on Thursday, a protest Speaker Paul D. Ryan labeled a high-profile stunt that undermined the basic institutions of government. Mr. Ryan said he was “not going to allow stunts like this to stop us from carrying out the people’s business.” He added, “This is about a publicity stunt and now a fund-raising scheme.” But on legislative business, it was Mr. Ryan who prevailed. He personally reclaimed control of the House, pounding his gavel and muscling through a major appropriations bill that included funding for combating the Zika virus, without debate.

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray sustained a fatal spinal injury was acquitted on Thursday of second-degree murder and six lesser charges, leaving prosecutors still without a conviction after three high-profile trials in a case that has shaken this city. In his ruling, Judge Barry G. Williams rejected the prosecution’s claim that the officer, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., had given Mr. Gray a “rough ride” in the van, intentionally putting him at risk for an injury by taking a wide turn while Mr. Gray was not secured with a seatbelt. “The court...

Office Caesar Goodson, who was driving the police van inside which Freddie Gray incurred his fatal neck injury, has been found not guilty of second-degree “depraved heart” murder Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. Goodson, 46, has also been found not guilty on charges of manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

The Baltimore police officer facing the most serious charges in the death of Freddie Gray was found not guilty of second-degree murder Thursday, WBAL reports. Officer Caesar Goodson was also charged with manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office after Gray's death.

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge on Monday questioned prosecutors’ theory that a police officer charged with murder in the death of Freddie Gray intentionally gave him a “rough ride” in a police van that caused the 25-year-old black man’s mortal injuries more than a year ago. Prosecutors had used the phrase “rough ride” in their opening arguments of Officer Caesar Goodson’s trial earlier this month, but Deputy State’s Attorney Janice Bledsoe did not utter the term during closing arguments Monday. Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams grilled Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow to clarify how he thought Officer Goodson had...

Prosecutors tried one last time on Monday to persuade a Baltimore judge to convict the driver of a police wagon in which 25-year-old black arrestee Freddie Gray’s neck was broken on the way to a police station. Both sides delivered closing arguments after more than five days of testimony in the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson on charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter. Other officers left Gray in handcuffs and leg shackles inside the paddy wagon, leaving him unable to protect himself from being slammed into the van’s metal walls during the ride. Prosecutors say Goodson “breached his duty” when...

Football coaches face a tough choice anytime they’re asked to play politics: Do so, and they risk alienating their fan base for a reason other than play calling or defensive schemes. Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh took the plunge Saturday, when he agreed with Donald Trump’s idea to build a border fence to keep out illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. At an otherwise boring press conference Saturday afternoon, Harbaugh, who’s won a Super Bowl and is no stranger to dealing with media, was asked a question about officiating during the ongoing NFL preseason. Somehow, his answer drifted into politics, with...

There’s been a bit of a bombshell dropped in the trial of Ceasar Goodson, the police officer who drove the van in which Freddie Gray sustained his eventually fatal injuries. We previously discussed the decision by Goodson’s team to opt for a bench trial and allow Judge Barrie Williams to decide his fate rather than facing a jury, along with how that might impact his fate. Now, the early signs are that it might have been a wise choice. Williams is reported to have appeared “visibly angry” on the second day of the trial when it was revealed that prosecutors...

BALTIMORE | The judge who will decide the fate of a police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray on Thursday blasted city prosecutors for failing to turn over evidence that could exculpate the officer. On the opening day of the trial for Officer Caesar Goodson, Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams said that prosecutors violated Maryland court rules when they failed to turn over to the defense a discussion with Donta Allen, the second man placed inside the transport van after Gray was injured. “I’m saying you don’t understand what exculpatory means. I’m telling you that this [evidence] needs...

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby will face a slew of new counts, including malicious prosecution and false arrest in a lawsuit brought by two Baltimore cops, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter, two officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, filed suit May 2 against Mosby and Maj. Sam Cogen of the Baltimore Sheriff’s office for defamation and invasion of privacy. The suit alleges Mosby and Cogen knew the charges were trumped up, but filed them anyway to quell the riots that had ravaged the city.Michael Glass, the lawyer for the officers...

Lt. Brian Rice, one of six Baltimore officers charged in the Gray case, filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Maryland on May 2, the same day two of the other officers — Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter — filed a joint defamation lawsuit against Mosby in state Circuit Court. Documents in Rice's case were first unsealed on Monday.

Like many recent college grads, Rep. Elijah Cummings' (D-MD) daughter Adia sought to earn some extra cash by driving for Lyft, a ridesharing service. Unlike most recent college grads, Adia was driving a car with congressional license plates--which is against the rules. After someone posted a picture of the car on Popville, Cummings apologized for his daughter's use of the plates. He then said that he would swap out the plate and that the car was not his official vehicle.Per the House of Representative rules, the plates are "only for the use of the Member and spouse, as well as...

Remember how after Baltimore was half destroyed by rioters last summer Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s made headlines by claiming she gave Baltimore rioters "Space to Destroy?" She tried to walk back the unfortunate statement—but it only half-worked. In any case, as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, last week she was in (totally destroyed by Communism) Cuba leading a mayoral delegation which also includes Mitch Landrieu, mayor of New Orleans (among the murder capitols of the U.S.) "These meetings and visits will provide U.S. mayors and Cuban officials the opportunity to share best practices for providing city services in...