Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby came out swinging Wednesday after she dropped the charges against the remaining police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray, slamming the criminal justice system and saying police were too biased to investigate themselves. In a fiery news conference at the Gilmor Homes housing project, the prosecutor said that without sweeping reform to police and the court system, "we could try this case 100 times, and cases just like it, and we would still end up with the same result." Mosby told The Baltimore Sun that she planned to pursue such reforms -- including the ability of prosecutors to use independent investigators. Mosby charged six officers in Gray's arrest and death last year. Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams acquitted three of them, saying prosecutors lacked the evidence to prove their cases. Mosby dropped charges Wednesday against the other three. "I wanted to be able to expose the systemic issues," she said. "And I think that's one of the reasons why we said we should probably [drop the remaining cases]: so we can try to work toward a solution."
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby holds a news conference on July 27 at Mount and Presbury Streets, the corner where Freddie Gray was taken into police custody, after dropping the charges against the three remaining officers to be tried in his death.
The Baltimore police union called Mosby's comments "outrageous, uncalled for and simply not true." Former Police Commissioner Anthony Batts called Mosby "immature, incompetent and vindictive." Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said the prosecutions were "disgraceful" and Mosby "ought to prosecute herself." Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she supported Mosby but questioned whether she had gone too far in her criticisms of the criminal justice system. "I have certainly learned from the challenges that I have faced, but I have never -- and will never -- use my position to give the impression to the community that they should not have confidence in the people who have sworn to serve them," Rawlings-Blake told CNN in Philadelphia, where she is taking part in the Democratic National Convention. Mosby said there had been "many gains" since Gray's death, including the purchase of new police vans equipped with video cameras and new police policies that require officers to confirm they have received and read new general orders.
Mosby said she was disappointed by the acquittals of the three officers, but she did not regret pursuing the charges. "If this defines my term as the state's attorney, I'm OK with that," Mosby told The Sun. "Because for me, my mission as a prosecutor was to seek justice over convictions, to make sure that we are holding everyone accountable regardless of occupation, sex or religion. "At the end of the day, this was a just process. [The officers] received due process, the verdict was rendered, and, at the end of the day, I believe justice was served," Mosby said.
Doug Ward, the director of the Division of Public Safety Leadership at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, said Gray's death, the charges against the officers and the trials "absolutely ... caused a rift" between police and prosecutors. But he said it was necessary. The "criminal justice system has been stacked against minorities," Ward said, and the cases have brought about a larger discussion about the need to improve it. University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris studies racial profiling and police misconduct. "There's no doubt that this has already poisoned relationships between the state's attorney's office and the Police Department," he said. But he didn't expect it to harm broader efforts against everyday crime.
MORE
