Officer charged in prisoner death decides against jury trial

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2015 file photo, Richard Shipley, Freddie Gray' stepfather, left, with Gray's mother Gloria Darden and lawyer Billy Murphy speaks with the media in Baltimore Md. An Associated Press review of court records nationwide shows that the attorneys who represent cities are sometimes weak links in the systems meant to hold police accountable for wrongdoing. The review found that lawyers deliberately hid important facts, delayed their disclosure or otherwise sought to subvert evidence in civil cases. Gray's family sued after he was fatally injured in police custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2015 file photo, Richard Shipley, Freddie Gray' stepfather, left, with Gray's mother Gloria Darden and lawyer Billy Murphy speaks with the media in Baltimore Md. An Associated Press review of court records nationwide shows that the attorneys who represent cities are sometimes weak links in the systems meant to hold police accountable for wrongdoing. The review found that lawyers deliberately hid important facts, delayed their disclosure or otherwise sought to subvert evidence in civil cases. Gray's family sued after he was fatally injured in police custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

By Associated Press July 5, 2016 3 min read

BALTIMORE (AP) – There will be no trial by jury for the highest-ranking police officer charged in the death of a young black man whose broken neck inside a police van caused civil unrest in Baltimore.

Lt. Brian Rice’s lawyers said Tuesday that he has chosen to be tried instead by a judge – the same one who acquitted two fellow officers in Freddie Gray’s death.

Rice, who has been suspended without pay, faces charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

Judge Barry Williams acquitted Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson after bench trials last month. The first of the six officers to go to trial, William Porter, faced a jury and ended with a mistrial. He’ll be retried in September.

Gray’s neck was broken after officers left him handcuffed and shackled but unrestrained by a seat belt inside a metal transport compartment in Goodson’s van. But the judge said he acquitted Nero and Goodson because the state produced no evidence supporting criminal negligence and recklessness.