Public disciplinary trials scheduled for five Baltimore police officers in Freddie Gray case…
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-freddie-gray-officers-trial-boards-20170911-story.html
Five officers facing internal discipline by the Baltimore Police Department in connection with the arrest and death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in 2015 will have public departmental trials this fall and winter, according to the online trial board schedule and a police union attorney.
Three of them face termination — the most severe punishment now possible locally after city prosecutors failed to secure a single criminal conviction in the case. Officials have not announced findings in a separate federal investigation into Gray's death.
The administrative trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the police van in which prosecutors said Gray suffered his fatal neck injuries, is scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 3.
Lt. Brian Rice’s trial is Nov. 13-17; Sgt. Alicia White’s is Dec. 5-11; Officer Garrett Miller’s is Dec. 18-19; and Officer Edward Nero’s is Dec. 20-21. The officers will attend their hearings.
The department’s online schedule lists the trials, but not the officers’ names. Michael Davey, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, confirmed the schedule. He otherwise declined to comment.
The specifics of the internal charges are not clear. Davey has previously said the officers are charged with “violations of policy and procedure,” but declined to elaborate.
By law, officers who are charged with internal infractions can accept recommended punishments or contest the charges before a trial board. All five chose trial boards.
The panels, which consist of three police officers, can acquit the officers or uphold the charges. If the charges are upheld, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis would determine the officers’ punishments.
A new state law made trial boards open to the public, but their outcomes remain secret. The trials will be held at City Hall, according to the online schedule.
Davis said Monday that a review of the officers’ actions by two outside police agencies found the officers had committed “several violations” of departmental policies. The discipline trials will provide them “the opportunity to address those findings,” he said.
He otherwise declined to comment. It was not clear who in the department would be leading the proceedings.
William H. “Billy” Murphy, the Gray family attorney, declined to comment.
Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, said she is glad the officers are facing discipline.
“The bottom line, like I’ve always said, is that Freddie is dead, and at the hands of the Police Department,” she said. “Someone should be held accountable, and if they couldn’t be held accountable in the court system, they should be held accountable internally.”
In Baltimore and across the country, Hill-Aston said, “we have to let the community see that when police do bad things and do not perform their jobs well, that there are some repercussions.”
The Baltimore Sun first reported in May that the five officers faced internal charges — and that Goodson, Rice and White face firing — after investigators from the Montgomery and Howard County police departments finished their review of the case. Nero and Miller, who made the initial arrest of Gray, face five days suspension without pay.
The Baltimore Police Department had asked the county police departments to conduct the internal investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
Gray’s death in April 2015 sparked widespread protests in Baltimore, and rioting, looting and arson broke out on the day of his funeral. Millions of dollars in damage occurred in the city, which was put under a weeklong nightly curfew amid the unrest.
The five officers and a sixth were charged criminally in the case, with offenses ranging from misconduct to manslaughter and second-degree murder. All pleaded not guilty and none was convicted. Goodson, Rice and Nero were each acquitted in bench trials. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby dropped the charges against White, Miller and the sixth officer, William Porter.
Porter had previously gone to trial, which ended with a hung jury and a mistrial.
Porter is not facing any internal discipline based on the findings of the investigation by the two county police agencies.
The police union previously denounced the department’s decision to bring internal charges against the officers and hold trial boards, saying the internal cases will “do nothing more than perpetuate a police force hesitant to exercise judgment when interacting with the public.”
The scheduled duration of the officers’ upcoming trials is unusual. Most trial board proceedings do not last more than one day. However, the cases against the officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death involve huge amounts of evidence, in part because they were tried in criminal court first.
Police reform advocates in the city have long pushed to put civilians on trial boards, but the local police union has rejected that idea and state law prohibits the city from putting civilians on the boards without the union’s consent.
City officials, including Davis and Mayor Catherine Pugh, have said they are pushing for the placement of civilians on the boards as part of the their ongoing contract negotiations with the union.
The officers’ administrative trials follow an investigation into the Baltimore Police Department by the U.S. Department of Justice, launched after Gray’s death and the subsequent unrest. The federal investigation concluded there has been widespread unconstitutional and discriminatory policing within the department. The city is now under a consent decree with the Justice Department mandating sweeping reforms.
On the day of Gray’s funeral and the start of the rioting in Baltimore in April 2015, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a federal investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI into Gray’s death to determine whether his federal civil rights had been violated. The Justice Department on Monday declined to provide an update on the status of that investigation.
Comments
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Another dog and pony show? Enuff already.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-doj-decline-charges-20170912-story.htmlDOJ won't bring charges against Baltimore officers in Freddie Gray case, sources say
The U.S. Department of Justice will not bring charges against Baltimore police officers in connection with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody in 2015, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The decision means no officers will be held criminally responsible for Gray’s death. The state previously filed local criminal charges against six officers in the case, but failed to secure a single conviction.
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the Justice Department was conducting a criminal civil rights investigation into Gray’s death on April 27, 2015, the same day as Gray’s funeral and the eruption of rioting, looting and arson in Baltimore.
Lynch, who served under President Barack Obama, said at the time that the department would “continue our careful and deliberate examination of the facts in the coming days and weeks” to determine whether any officers should be charged with violating Gray’s civil rights.
Now, nearly two-and-a-half years later and under the Trump administration, Justice Department investigators have concluded that no charges are warranted, according to the sources.
The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the status of the investigation, and it was unclear Tuesday if a public announcement was planned. Officials at the FBI and the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office referred questions to the Justice Department.
William H. “Billy” Murphy, the Gray family’s attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith declined to comment.
Michael Davey, an attorney for the local police union, said he had not received any notice of an official decision in the case from the Justice Department as of Tuesday afternoon, but “if the sources are correct, we're obviously pleased.”
“We only wish that the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office would have done just as thorough an investigation before they brought their state charges,” Davey said. “If they would have done that, we believe they would have come to the same conclusion as the Department of Justice.”
According to local prosecutors, Gray died after suffering a fatal spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police transport van following his arrest on the morning of April 12, 2015.
Police accused Gray of running unprovoked in a high-crime area in West Baltimore and of being in possession of an illegal knife at the time of his arrest. He was handcuffed and shackled in the transport van, but not restrained by a seat belt.
Gray’s death a week later sparked widespread protests against police brutality in Baltimore. Clashes between police and civilians spiraled out of control on the day of his funeral, erupting into rioting that caused millions of dollars in damages. The city was put under a weeklong nightly curfew.
Days after the rioting, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby filed local criminal charges against six police officers, ranging from misconduct in office and reckless endangerment to manslaughter and second-degree depraved heart murder.
All of the officers pleaded not guilty and none was convicted.
Three — Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., Lt. Brian Rice and Officer Edward Nero — were acquitted in bench trials before Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams. Mosby subsequently dropped the charges against Sgt. Alicia White, Officer Garrett Miller and Officer William Porter, citing the unlikely chance of a conviction with Williams scheduled to preside over their trials as well.
Porter had previously had a jury trial, which resulted in a hung jury and mistrial.
The Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges in the case was anticipated by many legal observers, particularly given Williams’ rulings at the state level, as federal civil rights cases have a higher standard for securing convictions.
To secure convictions in such cases, federal prosecutors must establish that an officer willfully violated a person's civil rights, which experts said is not an easy task.
When Mosby dropped the state charges against the remaining officers in July 2016, the DOJ leaders in the Obama administration issued a statement saying the agency had been "monitoring the state's investigation and trials" along with the FBI and the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office. The statement said the DOJ would continue its "independent review of this matter, assess all available materials and determine what actions are appropriate, given the strict burdens and requirements imposed by applicable federal civil rights laws."
Separate from the criminal cases, two outside police agencies — in Montgomery and Howard counties — conducted an internal review of the officers’ actions. That review led to five of the officers being charged with violating internal Baltimore Police policies.
Those five all face internal disciplinary trials this fall and winter. Three — Goodson, Rice and White — face termination from the force, while Miller and Nero face five days suspension without pay. Porter was not charged with violating any policies.
Gray’s death also caused city officials to invite the Justice Department into Baltimore to conduct a broader investigation into the police department. In August 2016, the Justice Department released a scathing report that found widespread discriminatory and unconstitutional policing within the department, particularly in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods.
The Justice Department and Baltimore subsequently entered into a consent decree mandating sweeping reforms to the police department. That agreement was approved in federal court, and the two parties are in the process of selecting a federal monitor to oversee the reforms.
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a statement Tuesday that Baltimore “desperately needs” systemic policing reforms that include mechanisms for holding officers accountable.
“We know that spines do not break without cause, and the DOJ and BPD’s credibility to make change a reality in Baltimore hinges not just on their ability to institute much needed reforms to police training, policies, and practices, but also on their success in bringing to justice officers who abuse their power and take the lives of innocent residents,” Ifill said. “The onus is now on the BPD to hold these officers accountable at their disciplinary trials this fall and winter. Baltimore will be watching.”
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-gray-family-response-20170913-story.htmlFreddie Gray's family 'devastated and disappointed' by DOJ decision not to charge officers, attorney says
Freddie Gray's family is “devastated and disappointed” by the U.S. Department of Justice decision not to file criminal civil rights charges against the six Baltimore police officers involved in his fatal 2015 arrest, according to their attorney.
“This is a bitter pill for all of us to swallow,” said attorney Hassan Murphy. “It is the end of a chapter, and it is a sad and tragic chapter that has left a trail both in this city and in this country of hurt feelings, injury and disgust. And it is unfortunate that it has ended without anyone being held accountable for Freddie’s death.”
At the same time, Murphy said, the decision is one they accept, based in part on a conversation his firm’s team — including his father, attorney William H. “Billy” Murphy — had with the Justice Department attorneys who reviewed the case.
Hassan Murphy said he had been “prepared to believe” that the Justice Department under President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions would produce an investigation that was “nothing more than a whitewash or a political decision,” but was convinced otherwise.
“We have to admit that we left satisfied with the investigation undertaken by this particular group of lawyers at the Department of Justice, most or all of them holdovers from the Obama administration,” he said. “They were frank and forthright about the things they had done and the steps they had taken in this investigation.”
The Justice Department's decision was announced Tuesday. Local prosecutors filed criminal charges against the officers in state court, but failed to secure a single conviction after all of the officers pleaded not guilty.
Murphy, speaking at the firm’s downtown offices, said the family’s counsel “understand the limited jurisdiction that the federal government has in cases like this and the enhanced burden of proof that they have,” even as they “continue to believe that someone should be held accountable.”
With the decision made, he said, it is “time now for all of us to reflect, to heal, to fight and to continue our work in holding all of those with power over the rest of us to a very high standard.”
Murphy’s firm had said Gray’s family would attend the news conference, but they did not. Asked why, Billy Murphy said they were “tired of getting bad news” in the case and did not want to keep standing before the media to address it.
“They’re tired of being used as props for the genuine sorrow that they do not wish to experience over and over again, and so they’re not here,” Billy Murphy said.
“There is a level of fatigue for them, and it’s been hard for them to finish their mourning process while all of these things — the criminal case, the Department of Justice investigation — hang over them,” Hassan Murphy said. “Hopefully, despite what may come, they will have a chance now to really heal and be with themselves.”
The city reached a $6.4 million civil settlement with the Gray family in September 2015.
That settlement — which exceeded the combined total of more than 120 other lawsuits brought against the police for alleged brutality and misconduct since 2011 — did not acknowledge any wrongdoing by police, but accepted all civil liability in Gray’s arrest and death.
In a statement at the time, then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the settlement was proposed “solely because it is in the in best interest of the city, and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages.
Gray, 25, was arrested after fleeing officers in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore on April 12, 2015, and being found with a knife that officers determined was an illegal switchblade, according to law enforcement officials. He was then handcuffed and shackled, but not restrained by a seat belt in the back of a police transport wagon, where prosecutors said he suffered a fatal spinal cord injury. He died a week later.
His death sparked widespread protests against police brutality in Baltimore, and his funeral April 27 was followed by rioting, looting and arson that caused millions of dollars in damage.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby filed state criminal charges against the six officers, from second-degree depraved heart murder to manslaughter to misconduct in office. Prosecutors alleged the officers had put Gray in danger by failing to restrain him in a seat belt, and that the driver of the van — Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. — had given him a “rough ride.”
Three of the officers — Goodson, Lt. Brian Rice and Officer Edward Nero — were acquitted at bench trials. Mosby subsequently dropped all charges against Sgt. Alicia White and Officers Garrett Miller and William Porter.
In an explanation of its decision on Tuesday, the Justice Department wrote that the evidence did not show Gray was given a “rough ride,” or that officers were aware their failure to secure Gray with a seat belt put him in danger, or that officers knew Gray was injured and needed immediate medical care.
In describing its findings in regard to the seat belt, the department gave a nod to the separate nature of civil and criminal cases in such instances, writing that, “to the extent that the officers violated department policy in failing to seat belt Gray, those failures suggest civil negligence rather than the high standard of deliberate indifference” that prosecutors would need to prove to bring criminal civil rights charges.
Goodson, Rice, Nero, White and Miller still face internal discipline for violating departmental policies, and are scheduled to stand trial on the administrative charges this fall and winter before panels of officers known as trial boards. The boards could acquit the officers, or find them guilty — at which point Police Commissioner Kevin Davis would determine their punishment.
Goodson, Rice and White face possible termination, while Miller and Nero face up to five days of suspension without pay. Porter is not facing administrative charges.
Mayor Catherine Pugh also addressed the Justice Department’s decision Wednesday, saying she didn’t know whether it was correct because she isn’t a lawyer and hadn’t seen all the evidence, but that “justice took its course.”
Pugh said she will wait to see what happens with the internal disciplinary trials. The outcomes of those cases are normally kept secret. Pugh said making them public was “open for consideration,” but it’s not clear that would be allowed under state law.
Billy Murphy said he also will be watching the officers’ trial boards, and that the outcomes should be public. He said keeping the outcomes secret after the trials themselves are open “would be a cruel joke.
Murphy also praised Mosby for charging the officers in state court, and claimed to have documents showing Baltimore police officers “deliberately obstructed” Mosby’s investigation into the officers’ actions.
“I have been legally made privy to documents that I believe, once they’re able to be released to the public, will show without question that in several significant ways, her investigation was sabotaged,” he said.
Asked to elaborate, Murphy declined. He said he is not at liberty to release the documents, but that their eventual release is inevitable.
Mosby’s prosecutors have made similar allegations about police obstructing the investigation. The Police Department has previously denied those claims as flat wrong, and T.J. Smith, a police spokesman, said Wednesday that the department stood by that response.
