$6.4 million wrongful death settlement
Baltimore officials reach a $6.4 million wrongful death settlement with Gray’s family. The deal still must be approved on Wed 9 September by the city’s Board of Estimates, the governing body that oversees the city’s spending. $2.8 million will be paid to Gray’s family this fiscal year, and $3.6 million in the fiscal year beginning next July. The settlement also calls for the Baltimore police department to begin requiring its officers to wear body cameras. The mayor’s office says the settlement will resolve any civil claims against the city, the police department and the individual officers, but is not an admission of liability and would not impact the criminal cases.
The proposed settlement agreement going before the Board of Estimates should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial. This settlement is being proposed solely because it is in the best interest of the city, and avoids costly and protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal and potentially cost taxpayers many millions more in damages.
Orders separate trials
Williams orders separate trials for the defendants. He rejects a prosecution motion that Officer Goodson, the van driver; Officer Nero, who had helped arrest Gray; and Sergeant White, who was an on-duty supervisor, should be tried together and the other three separately.
Having Officers Goodson and Nero together is not in the interest of justice.
Charges stand
The defense motion for the charges to be dropped is denied by Circuit Court Judge Williams. Defense attorneys had sought to drop the charges because of prosecutorial misconduct on the part of State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. said that while he was “troubled” by some of the comments Mosby made during a May 1 news conference, they did not compromise the defendants’ right to a fair trial. The judge also deniess a motion to recuse Mosby and her staff due to what defense attorneys characterized as conflicts of interest.
Prosecutors accused of hiding evidence
Defense attorneys for six Baltimore police officers file a motion alleging that investigators for the Baltimore Police Department had information that Gray had a history of intentionally injuring himself in order to collect insurance money. The attorneys allege that police investigators knew that Gray once injured himself so severely while in a Baltimore jail that he required medical attention. The attorneys say in documents that when police investigators tried to follow up on the evidence, prosecutors in the state’s attorney’s office told them “not to do the defense attorneys’ jobs for them.”
The motion also says that high-ranking members of the state’s attorney’s office met with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner a week before Gray’s autopsy was complete and his death ruled a homicide. In addition, attorneys say the prosecutors didn’t provide the medical examiner’s office with a copy of the statement of Donta Allen, the man who had been inside the police van where Gray suffered his injury. Investigators initially said Allen told them that Gray had been making banging noises in the back of the van. But Allen later told the media that police had exaggerated his account.
Indicted by grand jury
Mosby announces grand jury indictments against the police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.
These past two weeks, my team has been presenting evidence to a grand jury that just today returned indictments against all six officers.
Arraignment against the officers in the case is scheduled for July 2
Dismissal filing cites conflict of interest
Attorneys for the six Baltimore police officers charged in Gray’s death file a motion to have the case dismissed or have Marilyn Mosby’s office taken off the case. The motion lists what attorneys say are numerous conflicts of interest and concerns about the investigation. The filing says Marilyn Mosby’s husband, City Councilman Nick Mosby, represents the West Baltimore district where Gray was arrested, and that one of her chief prosecutors is in a relationship with a local television reporter who interviewed the prisoner who was in the police van with Gray on April 12. The filing also says Marilyn Mosby has a close professional and personal relationship with Murphy, the Gray family’s lawyer and unofficial spokesman. Filing:
Mrs. Mosby’s connection to Mr. Murphy is of great concern to the undersigned counsel and it should be of greater concern to the residents of this city/ The connection between Mrs. Mosby and Mr. Murphy is undeniable and the conflict it creates is detrimental in the pursuit of justice.
Files to see knife
Lawyers for Nero file a motion in Baltimore District Court, asking the police department and prosecutor to produce the knife that was the reason for Gray’s arrest. Mosby, when charging Nero, said that Gray’s knife was legal under Maryland law, meaning Nero had arrested Gray illegally. If the knife is deemed to be an illegal knife then Nero’s charges of second-degree assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment will fail, as Gray’s arrest would have been justified.
Six officers charged
Prosecutors file homicide, manslaughter and misconduct charges against police officers. State’s attorney Mosby, says officers abused Gray, arrested him without grounds and violated police procedure by putting him in handcuffs and leg restraints in the van without putting a seatbelt on him, as well as repeatedly failing to seek medical attention after he was injured. Mosby also says that the knife Gray was not a switchblade, was lawful, and that the officers had failed to establish probable cause for an arrest. Mosby:
We have probable cause to file criminal charges
Goodson is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. Rice is charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment. Officer Porter and Sgt. White are each charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. Officers Nero and Miller are charged with assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
Gray’s arrest
Lt. Rice and Police Officers Nero and Miller are on bike patrol near the corner of North Avenue and Mount Street, Baltimore. Lieutenant Rice makes eye contact with Gray, who runs away. Less than a minute later Gray surrenders to Miller and Nero in the 1700 block of Presbury Street. The officers handcuff Gray and places him face down. Gray requests an inhaler, and says he cannot breathe, but does not receive one. Miller and Nero put Gray in a seated position and find a folding knife, and charge him with illegal possession of a switchblade knife. The officers then place Gray down on his stomach and restrain him until the police van arrived. Miller’s report:
The defendant was apprehended in the 1700 block of Presbury St. after a brief foot chase. This office noticed a knife clipped to the inside of his front right pants pocket. The defendant was arrested without force or incident. The knife was recovered by this officer and found to be a spring-assisted, one hand-operated knife. During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to shock trauma via media.
Lead paint lawsuit
Gray and his siblings file a lead-poisoning lawsuit against the property owner of the house they lived in on North Carey Street from 1992-1997. Gray lived in the front room with his mother. Court records show that in May of 1990, when the family was living in a home on Fulton Avenue in West Baltimore, Gray’s blood contained more than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood — double the level at which the Center for Disease Control urges additional testing. Three months later, his blood had nearly 30 micrograms. In June 1991, when Gray was 22 months old, his blood carried 37 micrograms. It is believed that anything higher than five micrograms can cripple a child’s cognitive development. From Gray’s deposition:
There was a big hole when you go up the steps. There was a couple of walls that wasn’t painted all the way, peeled. . . . And like the windows, paint was peeling off the windows.
The suit results in an undisclosed settlement in 2010.