Officer in Freddie Gray Case Acquitted On All Charges
 

There was no jury in the case. This was a 100% judge's decision. This stinks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/us...t-verdict.html

I think I agree. From the story:

If the police were to arrest the judge, handling him as they are seen to handle Freddie Gray, without probable cause, I think he'd be very sure it was a crime.

This must stop. It's cases like this that legitimize the 2nd amendment. When governments create us against them scenarios.

There was no special treatment here, if that's what you mean. Anyone has the right to waive their trial by jury.

If you mean you don't like the verdict because it doesn't synch with your political bias, I guess I'd implore you not to lose faith. There are still four cops left that might yet be grist for your mill. From the NYT story:

Charges were filed too quickly, he said. adding that prosecutors should have spent more time bolstering cases against one or two officers who may have been most culpable. “Someone dying doesn’t always make it a crime,” Mr. Moskos said. “The prosecutors are trying to find social justice, but these are trials of individual cops.”

There's also the pending civil rights investigation.

Why do you suppose Nero waived his right to a jury? He knew he'd be convicted unless the verdict was rendered by an insider. The other 4 will waive their right to a jury too and they will all walk unless the police decide they need to toss one of them to the wolves. None will serve a day.

Whatever. It still remains their right, as it is yours, to select trial by judge or jury.

If I were a cop, I would.

As would be your right.

Ah, so the Judge is an "insider"? The police conspiracy now includes moles within the judiciary? :rolleyes:

By "the wolves", I guess you're referring to someone like this:

Despite the acquittal, Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore city branch of the NAACP, said she remained hopeful that someone would eventually be held responsible for Mr. Gray’s death.

“I’m thankful we’re even in court, that charges were brought,’ she said. “But now we’ve got to come out with something.”

I guess by "something", she means someone's hide, guilt or innocence not withstanding.

Here's a profile on your "insider", by the way:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...901-story.html

Career highlights: Led court's criminal division from 2012 until January. Chaired Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for Baltimore, 2012-2014. Special litigation counsel for the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department, 2002-2005. Trial attorney in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1997-2002. Assistant state's attorney in Baltimore, 1989-1997

His resume reads like someone whom the prosecution would have favored in this case, since this trial was as much about "social justice" as alleged criminality.

I knew it would be you to be the first to say, "But he's black!"

It's not a black issue. It's a blue issue.

Unless you were in the courtroom for the duration of the case, you have no basis to question the judge's ruling. He seems imminently qualified and comes from a civil rights background. I'll defer to him rather than your wild-ass guess that he's somehow corrupt.

They should have selected a judge who was fully qualified instead of onewhose qualification was merely imminent.

eminently

The question that, according to the reporting, the judge brought up repeatedly, strikes me as tangential at best to the issues in the case. "Whether...every arrest made without probable cause amounted to a crime?" seems like a defense attorney question to me, actually. The correct answer, no, sounds exculpatory.

But that really isn't the question, is it? The question is, was it a crime in this case.

I'll be interested in the 'expert analysis' this time, very interested.

From what this article says, it would have been novel indeed had the officer been convicted for his role in Gray's death (none).

Prosecutors pursued a novel, perhaps unprecedented, legal strategy, arguing that Nero was partially responsible for Mr. Gray’s death because he arrested Gray without probable cause. Gray sustained fatal injuries later, when Nero was no longer involved.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice...ustice-collide

Isn't it just like you to douse a lot of perfectly good supposition with a bucket of cold fact.

In the criminal law in most states, it works like this. Let's say George threatens Rob with a gun, to rob him. Then George calls Ed to approach and take Rob's wallet. Ed come up to Rob and hits him on the head with a club, killing him. George goes down for felony murder in most states, even if he didn't intend for Ed to hit Rob.

Basically, if Nero knew he needed probable cause, knew he didn't have it, and proceeded with the arrest anyway, it's not unreasonable to argue he began a crime against Gray, and shares in the culpability when his confederates compounded the crime. The Judge didn't buy it, but I can see the argument.

Trial by judge can be a very wise choice if your actions are generally within the law, but might be seen differently with a jury who, even though instructed not to, still often weigh their verdict with more emotion than intellect. Not unlike many conversations in this forum.

Yeh, I can be accused of occasionally trying to confuse people with the facts. It usually trips them up.

It can also be observed that some in this forum like to accuse other members of mistakes and bad thought, but couch it in general terms, to avoid having to actually show such has taken place.

Some people can occasionally be accused of insufferable self-regard. Smugness, even. :D

It's important to remember that Freddie Gray didn't have the use of his legs after Nero got done with him.

Yeh, we should all strive to ensure that we don't allow facts to get in the way of a good story.;)

All kidding aside, one of the problems of the current era is facts are getting too plastic, and we don't have common trusted sources that provide us all with a common grounding of fact.

What is the big fact you've revealed here, BTW? That the state's case here was 'novel?'

That's it?

That's not much of a fact. It's at least half opinion.

I can see some logic so far as a "bogus" arrest leading to liability.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I am too disgusted with this verdict to even comment on it. :mad:

The fact that he had nothing to do with Gray's death, for starters.

But you never mentioned this 'fact' before in this thread, so that can't be the source of yall's previous claims that you have such great 'fact power.'

I don't think the fact is a fact in any case. Video shows Gray already badly injured when being placed in the van.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YV0EtkWyno

Let's not be plastic with the facts.

No, sorry, that was you. :rolleyes:

The cell phone video of the arrest makes that anything but clear.

Jinks!

No, its important to remember that "the use of his legs" wasn't essential to the case the prosecution was making against Nero. They didn't go after Nero based on what happened / didn't happen in the van. They went after Nero for the "assault" that the prosecution allege occurred during the initial arrest. That's why the Prosecution in this case focused on the process of the arrest, and attempted to make the case that the arrest was not legal. If the Prosecution was successful (they ultimately were not) in making the case that the arrest was not legal, then the physical contact that occurred during the process of the arrest / seizure / search would have constituted illegal assault.

Since the Prosecution couldn't convince the judge that the arrest was illegal, the lynch pin for their whole case, the prosecution of Nero fell apart.

Hey, don't jinx me!

I didn't. I jinksed you.:confused:

One can only wonder why.

The information already posted here explains why. You apparently would prefer to simply ignore it.

Again, one has to wonder why that was the core of the prosecution's case rather than the fact that it's very likely, and there's ample supporting evidence, that Nero is responsible for the injury that eventually killed Freddie Gray.