BALTIMORE (AP) – The second trial in the Freddie Gray case gets underway Thursday, and it will be different than the one that ended last year with a hung jury.
This trial is before a judge, and it has a better chance of ending with a verdict. It is also likely to signal what may happen with the officers who face similar charges.
Officer Edward Nero, one of six Baltimore officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, faces assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges. Nero and two other officers arrested Gray after making eye contact with him and chasing him in West Baltimore last year. Prosecutors say the officers detained him illegally.
Gray was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of a police transport van, where he suffered a critical spinal injury. He died a week later on April 19, 2015.
Gray’s death prompted protests, rioting and looting in Baltimore, and his name became a rallying cry in the growing national conversation about the treatment of black men in America by police officers. Shortly after Gray’s death, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby charged the six officers.