Posted on 07/18/2016 9:28:33 AM PDT by Strac6
A judge in Baltimore Monday acquitted the highest-ranking officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, marking the fourth trial that prosecutors failed to win.
Lt. Brian Rice faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. He opted for a bench trial by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.
The judge previously dismissed a second-degree assault charge, and prosecutors dropped a second misconduct charge against the 42-year-old officer, who is white.
Gray died a week after suffering a spinal injury in a police van last year, touching off protests and rioting.
Rice's failure to seatbelt Gray, Williams said, may have been an error in judgment and a violation of updated policy -- but the judge found prosecutors failed to prove it rose to a criminal level.
"The state failed to show that the defendant, even if he was aware of the risk, consciously disregarded that risk," the judge said.
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby vowed to bring justice to an aggrieved citizenry when she announced the charges last year. But she has yet to find success in court, and is being sued for defamation by five of the officers.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Whether or not it is safe for the officer to reach around a prisoner to get the seat belt is a judgment call. There was testimony that there was a crowd gathering and it was getting ugly, so it is not unreasonable to skip the belt in the interest of getting the door shut and the officers away from the scene as quickly as possible.
Policies are not criminal statutes.
Laws are laws. Policies are simply policies. The City of Baltimore can discipline him as a police officer for not following a policy, but they can’t put him in jail for it.
Even if failing to follow that policy results in a death?
Loved the way it contradicted itself. Mosby was "Born to a High School Junior". And "Her mother was a cop". Not as a High-school junior, she wasn't. Maybe later on in life.....years later.
With the media worshipping her like this, she's certainly headed for higher office. BTW, other than on FR, I've not heard word one about the trials in Baltimore. Guess that it's been decided to bury the story.
That Vogue article is BS at its finest, isn’t it? Yes, most of the media is now trying to hide her complete failure and misconduct. Oddly enough, the Baltimore Sun, the hometown paper, has asked for her to dropped all remaining charges in order to put a stop to the embarassment.
Figure the people who would vote for her don't care anyway because their minds are already made up , or they just can't read. That's not a joke, btw.
Oddly enough, I had occasion to go to Baltimore recently. Visited the Aquarium, and points downtown on the waterfront. Was generally impressed with the touristy locations. Rest of the city was not a war zone, as I'd been led to expect - it was about what you'd think of a typical city...some nice places, some dumpy ones.
Washington DC on the other hand, was a whole other story. As bad as San Francisco, if not worse.
Dumbass tries to self-inflict injuries to sue the crackers, breaks own neck, tough titties. Disgraceful this ever saw the inside of a court.
I wish that Mosby had stepped out from the sidewalk in front of the squad car at that moment paying too much attention to her cell fone, but we can’t have everything.
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