Judge in Freddie Gray-officer trial grills prosecutors

” Prosecutors and attorneys for Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero are scheduled to make final arguments on Thursday”. In a police report, Officer Garrett Miller cited the knife as the reason for Gray’s arrest.

Nero faces misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. The assault charge, stemming from the allegation that Nero unlawfully touched Gray, carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and the other charges carry five-year maximums.

Nero was one of the arresting officers of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who died after suffering spinal injuries he is believed to have sustained in a police van following his arrest in April of past year. Reynolds admitted that he had seen detainees secured with seat belts in the vans before and that doing so was possible with a cooperative detainee.

During the trial’s closing arguments, prosecutor Janice Bledsoe said that Officer Edward Nero had arrested Gray without justification in April 2015, thereby committing assault.

Nero’s attorney argues his client didn’t arrest Gray, and that it is the police van driver’s responsibility to buckle in detainees.

In her closing, Bledsoe cited statements in which Nero and his partner both used the word “we” to describe putting Gray on the ground and handcuffing him.

Nero waived his right to a jury trial, instead choosing to leave his fate in the hands the judge.

The verdict could potentially set a precedent for police officers who arrest people without probable cause.

The judge has said he will be back in court on Monday to announce the verdict, noting he will take the weekend to review law and evidence in the case.

Nero is one of six officers charged in connection with last year’s death of Freddie Gray.

“You’re saying that’s a criminal assault, as opposed to just suppressing what’s found in that search?” the judge said. The case also has brought additional scrutiny to the deaths of young black men at the hands of police officers across the country.

“That’s a big stretch, it really is”, local attorney following the case Warren Alperstein said, “I think Judge Williams remained confused and that is why throughout the entire closing argument, you’ll recall Judge Williams continued to pepper the state with questions, even at the end of the rebuttal close”. The second time was when the van made a stop two blocks from the arrest site, and two officers secured him in leg shackles. “Being detained is a awful thing, being cuffed is a frightful thing…but the law allows it”.

But he added that arrests in which the actions of the officer “are not objectively reasonable” are criminal. When Bledsoe said that the answer depended on the circumstance, Williams said “No, no, no, no” and repeated his question. The first officer, William Porter, had his trial result in a hung jury.