Baltimore breathed a collective sigh of relief with last week’s announcement by State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby that six police officers were being charged with crimes ranging from assault to murder in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.
But the question remains whether she will be able to secure six convictions without fracturing the working relationship between police and prosecutors.
The city’s police union immediately pushed back against the decision to bring charges Friday, saying the action was driven by “publicity in the case,” calling on Ms. Mosby to recuse herself, and declaring that the officers “did nothing wrong.”
It’s rare that police officers are charged with murder or manslaughter, according to Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson. And he says bringing such cases against police officers can be a political minefield for prosecutors.
“If officers start not showing up in court when they need to because they are mad the other cops are being prosecuted, it absolutely can impact the prosecutor’s ability to get the regular caseload done,” Mr. Stinson said. “If there’s an inability to work between the police and the prosecutor’s office, things can suddenly come to a grinding halt in the criminal courts.”
Former State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County Glenn Ivey, who oversaw prosecutions against police in several high profile cases, said securing convictions in such cases is fraught with complications.
SEE ALSO: Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore prosecutor in Freddie Gray case, from a family of cops
“These can be tough cases to win, for sure,” Mr. Ivey said. “Police officers are frequently experienced witnesses who have testified at court before, and they tend to get very experienced defense lawyers.”
Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died April 19 a week after he suffered a traumatic spinal injury during an encounter with police.
Police chased Gray after he made eye contact with an officer and fled. Officers caught him and arrested him after finding a knife in his pocket.
Ms. Mosby said Friday that the officers failed to establish probable cause for Gray’s arrest, as the knife found in his pocket was legal. She also blamed Gray’s fatal injury on police, noting that they failed to properly restrain him inside the police van that transported him and declined to provide him medical assistance even after he requested it repeatedly throughout the 45-minute ride.
“Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the [Baltimore Police Department] wagon,” Ms. Mosby said.
Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the police van, faces the most serious criminal charges, including second-degree murder. Other BPD members — Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White, and Officers William Porter, Edward Nero and Garrett Miller — face charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
SEE ALSO: Caesar Goodson Jr. charged with second-degree murder in Freddie Gray’s death
Legal experts say the officers are unlikely to take plea agreements and will probably go to trial instead, a process that could take more than a year.
“Police officers have everything to lose in terms of their job, pension and benefits in taking any type of plea agreement,” said Jason Leventhal, a former Staten Island assistant district attorney who is now in private practice and represents clients who bring civil rights suits against the New York Police Department.
Though murder or manslaughter convictions are rare against police officers, experts say the Gray case may be the odd example where charges can stick.
When charges are brought against officers in police-involved shootings, juries tend to be sympathetic to police acting in what is often portrayed to be a split-second decision, Mr. Leventhal said.
“People give officers the benefit of the doubt in those fast-moving life or death decisions that they see taking place on the street,” he said. “This was not one of those situations.”
Mr. Stinson, who compiles data on police arrests, said over a seven-year period ending in 2011 he found 48 cases in which law enforcement officers were charged with murder or manslaughter from an on-duty incident not involving a firearm. Of cases for which conviction data could be found, 25 resulted in convictions.
“On a good day, it’s about a two-thirds chance that these cases would result in conviction if it goes to trial,” he said.
Propelled into the national spotlight as much for her decision to charge the officers as the speed at which she did it, critics say Ms. Mosby may have artificially high expectations for a conviction.
“Just because a medical examiner rules something a homicide, that doesn’t mean you can prove someone’s responsible or guilty for the homicide,” Ivan Bates, a former homicide prosecutor in Baltimore who is now in private practice, told The New York Times. “If she would have just told the community, ’Hey, I want to take this before the grand jury,’ I think they would have given her time to do what she needed to do. Now, she’s promised the residents of Baltimore city she’s going to get convictions.”
The lack of a conviction in the Gray case could put the young prosecutor, who assumed control of the State’s Attorney’s Office in January, at risk politically.
While Ms. Mosby made a point to address rank-and-file officers during her announcement, noting that the accusations against the six officers is “not an indictment of the entire force,” outrage from the police union was swift.
“We believe the actions take today by the state’s attorney are an egregious rush to judgment, and we have grave concerns about the fairness and integrity of our officers,” said attorney Michael Davey, who is representing one of the officers and spoke Friday beside union leaders.
In the national spotlight however, others suspect that Ms. Mosby likely has more to gain than to lose.
“Say this goes forward and there is no conviction and nothing comes of it, surely people might feel as if it’s just another incident where a black man died at the hands of police and nothing happened,” said Todd Eberly, a political science professor and coordinator of Public Policy Studies at St. Mary’s College. “But already it’s gone further than do many other cases. If it slides even further, then she becomes the person who finally stops that trend.”
Mr. Stinson said the actions of the state’s attorney seem to suggest she has ample evidence to make the charges stick.
“If it’s otherwise, I think it’s going to be clear pretty early on that it’s a shaky case,” he said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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