Freddie Gray case: Verdict expected Monday after closing arguments Thursday in Officer Nero trial
Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero chose not take the stand as testimony in his trial concluded Wednesday, and Circuit Judge Barry Williams said he planned to deliver a verdict on Monday.
Prosecutors and Nero’s attorneys are scheduled to make final arguments on Thursday.
Nero is charged in the arrest of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died last year after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in police custody.
Nero’s defense team called its final two witnesses Wednesday: a Baltimore Police Department commander to testify about police procedures, and an officer who trained with Nero and was present during Gray’s arrest.
Nero was one of three bicycle officers who pursued Gray through the Gilmor Homes public housing project in West Baltimore on April 12, 2015.
Prosecutors are alleging that Gray’s arrest was an assault because it did not meet the standards of a legal detention. Legal analysts have called it an unusual theory.
Nero is also accused of endangering Gray by failing to secure him in the back of a police van with a seat belt.
The 30-year-old officer has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office.
The defense has sought to minimize Nero’s role in the arrest, but has also argued that the officer was acting according to how he was trained and that any deviations he made were reasonable.
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Bravo!
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They did not have the right to destroy his body.
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Freddie Gray was dragged into a van, not belted, had spine sliced & diced like a vegetable, and DIED. He had no knife, he committed no crime
The crime was committed by those savage cops who treated him like yesterday’s garbage and did not get treatment for Freddie
And look at him in that photo…still so pompous, arrogant and unrepentant in his evil …absolutely no remorse at murdering another human being…
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How could Freddie Gray “stand” in the van when he couldn’t even walk to the van? Police dragged him to the van.
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I don’t believe the man ever moved of his own volition after he was assaulted by the cops. They dragged him to the back of the van and loaded him in like a bag of fertilizer. I believe he may have been thrown around in the van because he wasn’t belted, causing further injury.
Anyone with EYES could see that Freddie was injured before they slung him in the van like a 50 lb. sack of flour.
BTW, these metaphors we are using for how they treated Freddie Gray are so incredibly, blatantly, brutally, gut-wrenchingly SAD…. CRIMINAL.
He wasn’t human to these savages.
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Failed to train properly. Failed to question properly. But FreddieGray ended up with a severed spine and is now dead. Someone has to held accountable. He didn’t sever his own spine, dammit.
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