Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero on Monday of all four charges against him in connection with the arrest of Freddie Gray.
Below are his full comments from the bench, as transcribed by The Baltimore Sun.
WILLIAMS: All right, this court has been asked to render a decision in this matter and will give the information as follows.
The state has charged the defendant with assault, misconduct in office by corruptly performing an unlawful act, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office by corruptly failing to do an act that is required by the duties of his office.
In order to convict the defendant of assault, the state must prove that the defendant caused offensive physical contact with Freddie Gray, that the contact was a result of an intentional or reckless act of the defendant, and was not accidental, and that the contact was not legally justified.
In order to convict the defendant of misconduct in office, the state must prove that the defendant was a public officer, that the defendant acted in his official capacity, and that the defendant corruptly did an unlawful act. For this count the state alleges that the defendant arrested Freddie Gray without probable cause.
In order to convict the defendant of reckless endangerment, the state must prove that the defendant engaged in conduct that created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another, that a reasonable person would not have engaged in that conduct, and that the defendant acted recklessly.
Rev. Westley West, attorney Billy Murphy and others react to the verdict in the Officer Edward Nero trial. (Jerry Jackson and Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun video)
Finally, in order to convict the defendant of the second count of misconduct in office, the state must prove that the defendant was a public officer, that the defendant acted in his official capacity, and that the defendant corruptly failed to do an act required by the duties of his office. For this count the state alleges that the defendant failed to ensure the safety of Freddie Gray by failing to secure Mr. Gray with a seat belt during the process of Mr. Gray being transported in a police vehicle while he was in police custody.
The state has a burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element of the crimes charged. If the state fails to meet that burden for any element of a crime this court is required to find the defendant not guilty of that crime.
I will discuss each allegation in order.
Again, the defendant is charged with the crime of assault. In order to convict the defendant of assault the state must prove that the defendant caused offensive physical contact with Freddie Gray. The defendant acknowledges that any unwanted or unwarranted contact can be considered offensive, and the evidence is clear that at no point did Mr. Gray want to be touched by any of the officers.
Two, that the contact was a result of an intentional or reckless act of the defendant and was not accidental. Clearly when the defendant touched Mr. Gray it was done intentionally, but for reasons that I will soon discuss, I find that it was not reckless but acknowledge that is not the end of the analysis.
And finally, that the contact was not legally justified.
In order to assess whether the contact was not legally justified, read more at The Baltimore Sun
