BALTIMORE — One of the six Baltimore Police officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray decided Tuesday to let a judge, not a jury, decide his fate.
Among a slew of pretrial motions Tuesday, Officer Edward Nero told a judge he would prefer a bench trial instead of a jury trial.
Court observers said his decision likely is based on the idea that a judge will be more logical and less emotional in rendering a verdict.
“In my estimation, a judge that has the training, knowledge and experience is much better equipped to understand this law and apply it to this set of facts more so than the lay people on a jury,” former Baltimore prosecutor Warren Alperstein, who is not involved in the case, told reporters outside of the courthouse Tuesday.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams will preside over Officer Nero’s trial, which is scheduled to begin Thursday and is expected to last about a week. Judge Williams will decide whether Officer Nero had the right to detain Gray.
Officer Nero is one of six officers charged in the death of Gray, a young black man who suffered a fatal injury while riding in the back of a police van in April 2015. Officer Nero is charged with reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and misconduct in office. The maximum penalty for the assault and endangerment charges is 15 years in prison; there is no maximum penalty for the misconduct charge.
SEE ALSO: Riders blast D.C. Metro after track fire causes major delay
Gray’s death and funeral sparked days of protests and riots in Baltimore, and helped fuel the national Black Lives Matter movement.
Officer Nero was one of three officers who arrested Gray when he made eye contact with one of them and took off running in a high-crime area in West Baltimore.
Prosecutors have said that Officer Nero and other officers didn’t have probable cause to stop Gray, so his arrest and detainment are grounds for assault charges.
But Officer Nero’s lawyers argue that when Gray ran from police “unprovoked” in a known drug-trafficking area, Officer Nero and the other officers did nothing illegal by chasing and arresting him.
The defense team, led by Marc Zayon, will try to prove that Officer Nero had the right to pursue and arrest him. And the defense has some legal precedent to make that case, Mr. Alperstein said.
“The defense’s argument will certainly be that under a number of Supreme Court cases the officers had absolute legal right to pursue Freddie Gray, who fled unprovoked from the officers in the high drug-trafficking area,” the former prosecutor said.
SEE ALSO: Mentor gap seen in D.C. as students far outpace volunteers
A folding knife that Gray was carrying at the time of his arrest has become a key element in the investigation of his death and Officer Nero’s trial. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby has said that the knife was legal under state law, but Officer Nero and his attorneys have argued that the knife was illegal under city laws.
Judge Williams approved a motion by the defense to prevent prosecutors from mentioning the knife. But the defense can choose to introduce information about the knife during the trial, thus allowing prosecutors to present their information as well.
The judge ruled that the fatal injuries that caused Gray’s death could be mentioned in court. But he denied a request by prosecutors to call medical experts to detail how those injuries occurred, noting that Officer Nero is only charged in events that occurred before Gray’s fateful van ride.
In another motion, Judge Williams denied a request by the defense to block from the trial several videos of Gray’s arrest recorded by residents. The judge said the videos could be shown, but the audio must be blocked.
The judge also denied a defense motion to stop prosecutors from mentioning the use of “excessive force,” saying that since he and not a jury would decide the case, he would be able to hash out whether excessive force was actually used.
Judge Williams ruled on a third-party motion filed by several media outlets that sought to increase access to court documents during the trial. He said a media pool would be able to view evidence brought before the court, including the van in which Gray was transported.
In the previous trial of Officer William G. Porter, which ended in a hung jury in December, the media were not allowed to view the van along with the jury.
The judge also said he would release transcripts from proceedings from each day, but would not release transcripts of any sidebars or bench conferences until the trial is over.
• Ryan M. McDermott can be reached at rmcdermott@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.