Baltimore - A judge acquitted a police van driver of all charges including “depraved-heart” murder on Thursday in the death of 25-year-old arrestee Freddie Gray, whose broken neck on the way to the station set off Baltimore’s worst riots in decades.

Six officers were charged in Gray’s death, but only Officer Caesar Goodson was accused of murder. Gray was fatally injured after officers bound his hands and feet and Goodson left him unprotected by a seat belt that prosecutors say would have kept him from slamming into the van’s metal walls.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams delivered his verdict after hearing five days of testimony in the non-jury trial. He also found Goodson not guilty of manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment.

Williams ruled that the state failed to show that Goodson knew he’d cause harm to Gray by leaving him unbuckled, or that Goodson was aware that Gray was injured and intentionally failed to call a medic.... Read More: VIN