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Judge Keeps Freddie Gray Prosecution In Baltimore

Above: A mural at the spot Freddie Gray was arrested by Baltimore police.

In what was the most important pre-trial ruling in the prosecution of the six police offices accused of killing Freddie Gray, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams ruled that the trial would continue in Baltimore. He wanted to go to jury selection to see if an impartial jury could be selected in Baltimore saying  it was wrong to “assume they cannot be fair.”  The judge said that the defense had failed to prove that the officers cannot receive a fair trial in Baltimore city saying in his ruling, “The citizens of Baltimore are not monolithic. They think for themselves.”

Protesters arrived early at the courthouse. There were concerns among protesters that if the judge moved the trial to the suburbs that a conviction would be impossible to achieve. If the decision had gone the other way and the trial had been moved out of the city protests against the decision would have been likely. One protester, one of the first to arrive, was arrested for failing to obey an order to stand in the designated protest area.  This is what she was doing when she was arrested:

There was elation outside the courthouse when the judges decision was announced. Protester Ariane McBride, 35, told the Baltimore Sun: “Without the pressure of our presence, and the power of our presence, only God knows what would’ve happened.” Kalani Gordon reported in the Sun: “As people began to see on Twitter that the trial would not be moved, shouts erupted in the crowd. ‘We’re elated,’ said Sharon Black of the Peoples Power Assembly said after. She described how the crowd around her we’re clapping, crying and shouting in joy. The decision has ‘lifted spirits,’ she said, describing systemic issues throughout the city that have contributed to many residents feeling overlooked and ignored, not just on issues of police brutality but other problems in the city, from vacant houses to the lack of jobs. The judge’s decision however, she said is merely ‘a battle in the war.'” 

The Baltimore Sun reports that on Wednesday night Pastor Westley West of Faith Empowered Ministries was arrested in connection with last week’s protests. He was charged with attempting to incite a riot, malicious destruction of property, disorderly conduct, disturbance of the peace, false imprisonment, and failure to obey, police said. This was an unusual arrest for the Baltimore police in protests, happening one week after the event. In addition, there have been numerous protests in the streets of Baltimore where traffic was inconvenienced and there were no arrests. 

Yesterday, Baltimore and the family of Freddie Gray reached a settlement in the family’s civil suit against the Baltimore Police Department. The $6.4 million settlement is massive compared to numeorus other cases settled between the police and families of victims of police violence. 

 

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