November 2021

History & Politics

The Many Trials of Keith Davis Jr.

Prosecutors have tried Keith Davis Jr. four times for the same murder without sustaining a conviction. Incarcerated since June 2015, Davis remains in jail awaiting a fifth trial while his wife fights for his freedom.

By Ron Cassie

PHOTOGRAPHY BY J.M. GIORDANO

November 2021

“BABE, I’MA DIE!
BABE, I’MA DIE!
. . . BABE, I’M GONNA DIE!”
POP, POP, POP
POP, POP, POP

“What do you mean, you’re gonna die?”

“They shot me!”

“Who shot you? Where are you?”

“The police got me. They shot me in my arm!

. . . Why y’all tryin’ to kill me! Why? What are y’all doing?”

POP, POP, POP

“Tell me what’s happening. Please, please, tell me what’s happening.”

Taking cover inside a cramped, dark auto repair garage, Keith Davis Jr., in what he believed were the last moments of his life, somehow, desperately, got his girlfriend on his cellphone as four Baltimore police officers tried to kill him. Bullets ripped into tool cabinets, steel beams, the shop’s office and bathroom doors, the concrete wall at the back of the building, and the refrigerator that Davis had ducked behind. More than 30 shell casings from .40 caliber, Glock 22 service weapons lay scattered across the alley in front of the shop and its garage floor.

“I was trying to focus on Keith’s words and kept hearing ‘pop-pop-pop,’” recalls Kelly Davis, then Kelly Holsey. “It sounded like a popcorn machine. Keith sounded terrible. I heard fear. He was talking to me and, I later realized, to the police officers shooting at him at the same time. Keith is tough as nails, he’s been through a lot, and he was crying.

“The noise and sirens didn’t register until afterward,” she continues. “Then, there was one loud ‘POP’ and the call went dead. There was that rustling sound, like when someone drops their phone. I kept calling back, texting, calling back. Now, I was scared and freaking out.”

Already shot in his back and through his right arm, a police bullet had just struck then-23-year-old Keith Davis Jr. in the face, fracturing his cheek and sinus cavity, and shattering his jaw. Fragments from the bullet lodged in the back of his neck. At her home in Randallstown, Kelly Davis was still in bed. She and Keith, who been dating for several months, had been texting and talking throughout the night and much of the morning. Whatever mistakes Keith Davis Jr. has made in his life, calling his then-girlfriend, now wife, Kelly was not one of them. She saved the screenshot:

Incoming call
Sunday, June 7, 2015, 9:57 AM
1 mins 6 secs

Panicked, she dialed her stepmother at her home in Park Heights. Keith had spent the night with Kelly's brother, a longtime friend of Davis’ who was living there at the time. Her brother told Kelly that Keith must be “playing.” She knew different. Kelly’s stepmother had assumed Keith, with the weekend off from work, was still asleep downstairs, but she understood the terror in Kelly’s voice. Unsure who to reach out to, Kelly called her daughter’s godfather, a Northeastern District detective. He quickly pieced together that Keith had been in a “police-involved” shooting a mile away, and suggested she call local hospitals. By noon, Kelly was at Sinai Hospital trying to find out if her boyfriend was alive. She was told he was in critical condition following intense surgery. She was also told she couldn’t see him and police were in his room. Why, Kelly had no idea. “Then I walked into the waiting room and looked at the TV, and saw [BPD Deputy Commissioner] Jerry Rodriguez on WJZ, on the 12-clock news,” Kelly recalls. “He was saying police had shot a man earlier that morning who had robbed a hack driver and shot at police officers during a standoff.” A Sinai admissions staffer gestured toward the television and told her the man they were talking about was her boyfriend. Six days later, Keith Davis Jr. was charged with armed robbery and multiple counts of firing a weapon at law enforcement officers. “None of it made any sense. I’d woken up into a nightmare.”

Above: Keith Davis Jr. in the hospital after the shooting. Opening photo: Kelly Davis visits the garage for the first time where police fired more than 30 rounds—many bullet holes are still visible—at her husband.

IN JANUARY 2016, seven months after surviving that barrage of police gunfire inside Big Herb’s Auto Repair, Keith Davis Jr. was found not guilty of the armed robbery when the driver repeated what he’d said all along: The cops chased and shot the wrong guy. Davis, who’d just bought a pack of cigarettes from a convenience store, had run, with others, when someone yelled, “Gun!”—dashing across Reisterstown Road into Big Herb’s alley garage. Shortly before going to court, prosecutors had dropped the most serious charges, the counts of firing a weapon at police. Kelly thought her nightmare was coming to a close.

Instead, days after Davis’ acquittal, the City State’s Attorney’s Office—without a hint to Davis, his family, Kelly, or his defense attorney since his shooting by police—indicted him for murder in the seemingly unrelated slaying of a Pimlico security guard. Five hours before the hack driver had been robbed, Kevin Jones had been brutally shot 11 times, including in his mouth and head, while walking to work across the racetrack’s parking lot.

To date, the State’s Attorney’s Office has failed four times to convict Davis of the same murder. Incarcerated ever since he was moved from Sinai to Central Booking with shrapnel still in his neck, Davis now awaits a fifth murder trial set for May. That prosecutors dropped the charge of shooting at police, lost the armed robbery case, and now are 0-for-4 on the homicide charge, is not surprising. In 2018, the Civilian Review Board recommended suspending two officers and terminating two others involved in the Davis shooting for their excessive use of force, and the “serious discrepancies” and “lack of credibility” in their testimony. One of the first two officers on the scene, Catherine Filippou, later resigned when it was revealed the FBI was investigating her alleged involvement in a drug trafficking ring.

To say there have been other red flags in the five Davis trials is an understatement. To name a few: the state’s introduction of a professional jailhouse informant, a discredited drug cartel enforcer, at the second murder trial; the state’s “accidental” disclosure of surveillance video during the third murder trial; and the strange actions and contradictory testimony of not just the police at the scene, but lead detective Mark Veney, who inexplicably did not turn victim Kevin Jones’ two cellphones over to evidence collection for 11 months. Veney’s testimony has been so shaky throughout the trials, including the invention of a fictitious BPD investigator, that he was not called to the stand by prosecutors at the most recent trial, but by the defense.

Inside and outside the scene of the shooting on June 7, 2015. Photography by J.M. Giordano

Then there are the elephants in the courtroom. Prosecutors don’t have evidence Keith Davis Jr. and Kevin Jones knew each other. They don’t have DNA linking the men. They don’t have a motive.

Only one other person in U.S. history has been tried six times in total around the same incident, according to research by University of South Carolina law professor Colin Miller. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning his last conviction, Curtis Flowers was freed two years ago from a Mississippi jail after 22 years behind bars. Flowers filed suit this fall against the prosecutor in his case.

There’s a kicker, too. This summer, after a conviction in his fourth murder trial was overturned and Davis was due to be released, the State’s Attorney’s Office added a fresh charge of attempted first-degree murder for a prison fistfight a year earlier. In the surveillance video outside the cell where the brief fight took place, both Davis, a slight 152 pounds, and the man he fought, who did require stitches, walked away from that brawl unassisted. No weapon was recovered, according to charging documents.

“Keith Davis Jr.,” says Miller, who co-hosts the podcast Undisclosed, which investigates wrongful convictions and highlighted Davis’ case in 2019, “is the most aggressively prosecuted man in American history.”

Prosecution or Persecution?

After surviving a barrage of BPD gunfire, prosecutors charged Keith Davis Jr. with shooting at police and armed robbery. Cleared of those charges, he was then accused of an unrelated murder earlier that morning. More than six years later, he remains incarcerated without a current conviction or sentence.

How is the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office able to try Keith Davis Jr. so many times on the same murder charge? Without an acquittal, double jeopardy doesn’t come into play: “If there is a manifest necessity for the declaration of a mistrial, the defendant may be retried without violation of the prohibition on double jeopardy.”

Source: Campaign Zero

JANUARY 2016

Armed Robbery Trial

*ACQUITTED

Hack driver robbed at gunpoint describes someone much different than Davis to police and testifies in court that Davis isn’t the man. Acquitted on 15 charges, Davis’ sole conviction involves “constructive possession”—being near a gun that was never fired. Charges that he shot at police are dropped prior to the trial.

MAY 2017

Murder Trial I

*MISTRIAL

First trial for the 2015 murder of Pimlico security guard Kevin Jones ends in a hung jury, with 11 jurors voting to acquit. Only known witness to the killing (who died before trial) describes an older, thicker-built man than Davis.

OCTOBER 2018

Murder Trial II

*OVERTURNED

After the second murder trial, the judge overturns the guilty verdict when she learns the prosecution’s key witness, a professional jailhouse informant, was presented without providing defense, jury, or her with the true background of the informant.

OCTOBER 2018

Murder Trial III

*MISTRIAL

Third murder trial also ends with a hung jury. In the middle of this trial, surveillance video, which the prosecution previously did not disclose, suddenly appears in court. The state now claims the suspect in the video following behind Kevin Jones just before the murder is Keith Davis. Det. Mark Veney testifies he previously viewed the video and believed it had no evidentiary value.

FEBRUARY 2020

Murder Trial IV

*OVERTURNED

Fourth murder trial ends with a guilty verdict that was later overturned because the judge refused to allow appropriate and required pre-trial questioning by the defense.

MAY 2022

Murder Trial V

*Keith Davis Jr.’s fifth murder trial is set to begin at the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse.

WHEN KEITH DAVIS JR. was acquitted of the armed robbery of Charles Holden, the unregistered cabbie, or in Baltimore parlance, a hack, it seemed odd afterward that prosecutors had even brought it to court. To police on the day he was held up, Holden described a man roughly 15 years older than the boyish Davis, with braided hair, not Davis’ close-cropped cut, wearing a different shirt and shorts, not jeans like Davis. Holden hadn’t mentioned anything about heavily tattooed arms or shoulders or an inked-up torso, which would’ve stood out in the white tank-top Davis wore that morning. Neither had Holden identified Davis in a police photo array. And in court, he plainly stated that Davis “don’t look like him to me,” referring to the man who had ordered him to empty his pockets and then drive while jabbing a shiny silver semiautomatic pistol at him.

The gun police say they recovered near Davis after shooting him.

Holden’s statements regarding the gun used to rob him would become critical when the subsequent murder allegation was made against Davis. Holden’s description—and he made it clear he was familiar with handguns after decades hacking in the city—is very different from the distinctive, multi-colored, wood-handled, Swiss-made, target-shooting pistol police say they found near Davis after rendering him unconscious on the garage floor. Notably, the last known owner of the imported target-shooting pistol testified he had consigned it years before to either Otto’s Police Supply or Barts Sports World, both in Glen Burnie. Something of a collector’s item, the model had been discontinued in the mid-2000s. “My understanding was it was sold,” gun collector Ronald Gorman told the jury, adding both gun shops are popular among local cops.

Another eyewitness, admittedly drinking “brown liquor” that morning, had fled the garage when Davis ran in with police in chase. She told police she saw Davis holding a “black, square gun”—a description that could apply to a phone. During questioning, Martina Washington also blurted out at the armed robbery trial that police had been trying to influence her responses. “They keep saying all the stuff to you and telling you what they want you to say,” she said. For that matter, the description of the handgun that officer Lane Eskins said he saw during his initial pursuit of a suspect—who likely did rob Holden—doesn’t match the pistol that police say they recovered. It matches Holden’s description of a silver gun.

Ultimately, the charges that Davis fired a weapon at police were dropped because the only shell casings recovered in and around Big Herb’s Auto Repair were from police service weapons. And, place a big asterisk here in regards to the murder of Kevin Jones some five hours earlier: The gun the police who shot Davis say they recovered atop the refrigerator where he’d been seeking cover—the Hämmerli pistol they have at various times charged him with using to stick up the unlicensed cabbie, firing at them, and shooting Kevin Jones 11 times—had not been fired that day. That was the testimony of the BPD ballistics examiner at the armed robbery trial. Not only was the magazine empty, no gun residue was present. Keith Davis Jr. has maintained the pistol was planted. Whether you’re inclined to believe that or not probably comes down to your familiarity with the facts of the case and the recent history of the Baltimore Police Department. Whether the city should expend resources for more trials is a whole other question.

An activist with flyers urging people to call State's Attorney Mosby and demand she drop the charges.

“Let me put it this way, I don’t think there is anyone outside the City State’s Attorney’s Office that believes the prosecution of Keith Davis Jr. should continue,” says state Senator Jill Carter, who oversaw the Civilian Review Board in the Davis case in her then-role as director of the Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement. “I don’t think the State’s Attorney [Marilyn Mosby] is meting out justice, not American justice. At some point, even if you think he did it, you have to sit down with the victim’s family and say, ‘We did the best we could’ and look at the time he’s served. Justice isn’t justice unless it is justice for everyone, and you have to consider that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That especially includes the wrongfully convicted when decisions are overturned. Those are not convictions. It means you didn’t play fair. You cheated.”

“The Keith Davis Jr. case is one more example that prosecutors are too powerful,” Carter continues. “There’s too much discretion and too little accountability. Look at how hard we’ve worked to bring new tools forward to hold police accountable. We need to start working this session on possible legislation around how to hold prosecutors accountable.”

Kelly Davis and three of her four kids outside their home. Photography by J.M. Giordano

KEITH DAVIS JR. was the seventh person shot by Baltimore police in 2015. He was the first person shot by police after Freddie Gray died from injuries suffered during his arrest and State’s Attorney Mosby brought charges against six police officers. Had he not survived, Davis would have been the 34th person killed by Baltimore police in the preceding five years. In an only-in-Baltimore-and-not-in-a-good-way coincidence, the last person shot by police prior to Gray’s death—the day before, in fact—was acquitted of pointing a gun at police. At trial, Dawan Hawkins’ defense attorney showed that the cop who pursued and shot his client five times never said over the police radio that he had seen a gun. Hawkins can also be heard in the background saying he did not have a gun, according to court reporting from the Sun. State’s Attorney Mosby did not bring charges against officer David Bodine, the cop who shot at Hawkins, who has since left the BPD and now is employed by a Pennsylvania police department. In the Davis case, shooting officers Eskins, Filippou, Israel Lopez, and Alfred Santiago were assured by the State’s Attorney Office they would not face charges months before they were questioned by BPD’s Force Investigation Team. That Davis and Hawkins’ shootings were not captured on cellphone video no doubt diminished media interest in both cases.

Instead, the first news accounts of the Keith Davis Jr. case helped establish the narrative of a justified police shooting the BPD wanted to get out. Two weeks after the shooting, a story by Edward Ericson Jr., of the since-defunct City Paper, said that Holden had identified Davis as the man who robbed him, taking the police account at face value. That story also repeated a claim by the repair shop owner, Herbert “Big Herb” Berkley, who said Davis ran into the garage with a gun even though Berkley wasn’t there that morning—he’d been at church. (His son and his son’s girlfriend had been at the shop.) Sun crime reporter Kevin Rector, now at the Los Angeles Times, similarly repeated the police claim that Holden told investigators Davis had been the man in his vehicle, which Holden never said. That story pulled seven quotes from the charging documents, referring to it as “the most detailed account of the police-involved shooting to date.” Perhaps, but Davis’ jaw had been wired shut. There is also no statement from an attorney representing Davis nor a mention that police had fired 30-plus bullets at him.

It is interesting, however, that Rector did note what the police affidavit did not say. It did not say the Hämmerli pistol Davis allegedly brandished had been fired at police. Which is curious because the three counts of first-degree assault and second-degree assault, and the four gun charges, including discharging a weapon at police officers, were the basis for Davis being held without bail. The counts of firing at law enforcement, which police and prosecutors knew almost immediately were false—remember, no non-BPD shell casings were recovered and the department’s ballistics examiner quickly determined the gun police said they found had not been fired—were not dropped until just before Davis’ armed robbery trial. Given their extraordinarily weak case, it appears police and prosecutors were pulling a bait-and-switch—ultimately more interested in establishing a link between the gun police say they found and Davis than proving an unwinnable armed robbery case.

Shortly before taking the armed robbery charge to court, prosecutors added a count of gun possession, which becomes interesting because it is the only one of 16 charges, all related to the gun, to stick. Davis was found not guilty of carrying, wearing, or transporting a handgun; not guilty of using a firearm during commission of a crime; not guilty of the multiple charges of assault against the police officers, and not guilty of four charges of reckless endangerment—because the jury did not believe the state had proven that he had a gun in his hand or pointed a weapon at police officers. He was also found not guilty of failure to obey a lawful order, in this case, to put down a gun. Since the jury did not believe Davis had a gun in his hand, he was essentially, convicted of being in proximity to the gun police say they recovered atop the refrigerator. That kind of possession is often characterized as “constructive” possession. For Davis, who has a felony drug conviction, gun possession, “constructive” or otherwise, is illegal and he was sentenced to a mandatory five years in prison without parole. ​

No one, certainly not police and the State’s Attorney’s Office, wanted to deal with another police shooting of an unarmed young Black man just weeks after Freddie Gray, former Baltimore police detective Larry Smith told Undisclosed podcast co-host Rabia Chaudry and Amelia McDonell-Parry, the investigative journalist behind the Davis series. Smith, an 18-year veteran, former Internal Affairs detective, and BPD critic, believes the entire investigation around Keith Davis Jr.—the armed robbery, the use of excessive force, Kevin Jones’ murder—were flawed from the outset.

“In my opinion, it’s because [the department] immediately goes into damage control,” says Smith, who has written about criminal justice issues and policing for Medium and The Appeal. “[Here] they have a police-involved shooting so close to the Uprising. I heard other detectives inside Internal Affairs wishing Keith would die because it would’ve been much easier. Because then there is no alternative version of events. You only have what police are telling you.” Instead, Smith says, the police who shot Davis, the Force Investigation Team, the lead homicide detective, and BPD’s leadership immediately focused on justifying the use of force. Tunnel vision set in. “You are going to either purposely miss evidence,” Smith says, “or not care what you are missing.”

Prosecutors Don’T Have Evidence Keith Davis Jr. and Kevin Jones Knew Each Other. They Don’T Have DNA Linking the Men. They Don’T Have a Motive.

TO SMITH’S POINT, the armed robbery of Holden was not seriously investigated. His car was never impounded and checked for fingerprints or DNA. No statements are on record from eyewitnesses of the foot chase off the busy West Belvedere Avenue. As far as the shooting barrage inside the garage, FIT investigators made no effort to resolve numerous discrepancies in the accounts of the responding officers. At one point, three different officers said they were the one who’d handcuffed Davis as he lay in a pool of his own blood. It’s also not clear how the gun police say Davis was brandishing, and his wallet, got so neatly placed next to each other atop the refrigerator. Eskins said Davis placed the gun on the stand-up refrigerator after getting shot in the face and surrendering. Filippou said she never touched Davis’ wallet, but when she called for dispatch she gave them Davis’ drivers license number. Dispatch also wasn’t told there was a shooting victim at the scene. Because there is always more: The arriving paramedic testified he didn’t see a gun anywhere.

It’s worth keeping in mind, the FIT unit that investigated Freddie Gray’s deadly arrest, which the State’s Attorney Office partly blamed for having to drop the charges against all six officers, also investigated the shooting of Keith Davis Jr. For all intents and purposes, FIT investigators ignored the damning viral video of Gray’s arrest and the numerous eyewitness accounts of the shackling of Gray’s hands and feet at the second stop, where the limp, no doubt already severely injured 25-year-old was heaved back in the transport van. Similarly, in the Davis case, the Force Investigation Team, which did not include a single homicide detective and was disbanded soon after the Davis incident, ignored critical witness accounts. Instead, BPD investigators (and the medical examiner in Gray’s case)—and prosecutors—relied on the version of events put forth by police involved who potentially faced criminal charges.

“Not only did the state never try to resolve the various versions from police officers, who contradicted themselves and each other at every turn, they never were searching for truth,” says lawyer Latoya Francis-Williams, who represented Davis at his armed robbery acquittal, first murder trial, in which 11 of 12 jurors voted to acquit, second murder trial, and now serves as his civil attorney. “One thing you have to keep in mind, when the state charges someone with murder, people are inclined to believe the person did something wrong. Why else would the state go to court? And when the state takes as many bites of the apple as they’ve done with Keith Davis Jr.? People want to believe there must be good cause. That is an onerous mountain to climb each time.”

Though the contexts are different in the Gray and Davis cases, flipping the politics for State’s Attorney Mosby, the bottom line is the same. No officer has been held accountable.

Meanwhile, Kelly Davis, along with Tawanda Jones, whose unarmed brother Tyrone West was killed by police in 2013, has become the public face of police and prosecutor accountability in the city. A paraprofessional educator and a mother of four school-age children from a previous marriage, she’d been taking her relationship with Davis slowly before the shooting. He is six years younger. But she was impressed by the everyday way he took care of himself, putting money in the bank, keeping his health insurance up to date, and taking an interest in her children—things like buying them ice cream. When he told her about his drug conviction, those qualities overrode her concerns. That they had an instant connection is undeniable, and she has come to admire the strength of his character since he’s been incarcerated, adding that, with their near-daily phone calls, they’ve been able to pick each other up through their ongoing ordeal. In 2017, they married at the Jessup Correctional Institution. Davis has had several surgeries related to his shooting injuries (he also contracted COVID-19), which made marriage more urgent in order for Kelly to advocate on his behalf.

At the time of his arrest, she had not followed politics or criminal justice issues closely, which embarrasses her a bit now, she admits. “Freddie Gray was just water cooler discussion,” she says. She was certain, however, when State’s Attorney Mosby learned the details of Keith’s case, he’d be returned home. “I thought she was going to be the savior.”

She and her husband’s supporters are collectively known as “Team Keith.” Most, if not all, of the activists enthusiastically supported Mosby in her upset over former State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein in 2014. Now they find themselves on opposite sides. They made Davis’ cause an issue in Marilyn Mosby’s reelection three years ago and will do so again next year unless the murder charges are dropped.

Over the past six years, working with Tawanda Jones, the grassroots group Baltimore Bloc, and others, Davis has organized countless demonstrations at the courthouse, City Hall, and town hall meetings Mosby attends. She addressed the massive march after George Floyd’s death that shut down I-83. She hired a billboard truck this summer to drive around the city with information on her husband’s case. She’s organized canvassers to hand out flyers with information and the State’s Attorney’s number, asking people to call and demand Mosby drop the case.

PERSONAL PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY DAVIS.

“I needed to get people behind me and go public, but I didn’t know how,” she says. “So I went to a meeting. I met [activist] Kwame Rose. He gave Tawanda’s number. Then, people from Bloc reached out and started coming to court with me. I wasn’t getting anywhere by myself and you need to make noise in Baltimore, or people move on. I want the whole world to know Keith’s name.” While elected officials all certainly know his name, Mayor Brandon Scott, who didn’t respond to interview requests, and the City Council, have been deafeningly silent. A lot of that has to do with State’s Attorney Mosby’s “progressive prosecutor” branding and the combination of power wielded by her and Council President Nick Mosby, her husband, who have a deep political base and high-profile local and national supporters. (The power couple is also under federal investigation related to their taxes, which is the other issue no one at City Hall will discuss with the media. Leaders of the Baltimore and Maryland chapters of the NAACP, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, and attorney Ben Crump recently attended a press conference at Douglass Memorial Community Church in support of Marilyn Mosby in light of the FBI tax fraud investigation.) The exception is Councilman Ryan Dorsey, who attended the third murder trial and stated flatly in a recent interview, “Keith Davis is innocent, should not be incarcerated, and should not be tried again. End of story.” Dorsey, like state Sen. Carter, adds the case is emblematic of police violence, the lack of prosecutorial oversight, and “failure of our mass incarceration state.”

Kelly Davis and her husband have growing national support, too. Campaign Zero, cofounded by Baltimore-born and -raised activist DeRay Mckesson, got involved this summer, launching an interactive website with links to court transcripts that highlight, according to Mckesson’s count, more than 200 contradictions, problems, falsehoods, and errors over Davis’ five trials. “The truth is actually just so clear that we don’t need to embellish it,” Mckesson told reporters in the law offices of the couple’s civil attorney. “I don’t need to do anything to it. I just need to show you.”

For her part, State’s Attorney Mosby, who declined an interview, has said that in the past that her job “is to ensure justice for Kevin Jones. It’s not about Keith Davis for me. It’s about Kevin Jones. That was the victim of the homicide.” Nonetheless, it has turned personal. At a casual May staff outing at the outdoor bar Sandlot at Harbor Point, Mosby was captured on cellphone video giving the middle finger to a bicyclist who rode past her and several colleagues while twice shouting, “Free Keith Davis Jr.!” Mosby initially denied making the gesture, but then admitted she had done so when stills from the video proved she wasn’t telling the truth.

“Why does she keep trying to convict this man after failing so many times when she dropped all the charges against the officers in Freddie Gray’s death?” Tawanda Jones asks during a recent protest at a Park Heights rec center, just blocks from the murder of the Pimlico security guard and Davis’ shooting. “She knows the police were guilty of using excessive force and their statements and testimony all contradicted each other. She’s protecting the police and, she thinks, herself. But we know [the police] plant drugs and guns. That’s been established.”

Jones is referencing not just the Hawkins’ case, but the damning information that came to light related to the infamous Gun Trace Task Force. As part of that years-long investigation, Detective Maurice Ward testified he and his partners were coached to carry BB guns and replicas “in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them.” Another Baltimore detective caught up in the sprawling scandal, Marcus Taylor, had a replica gun very similar to his department-issued firearm in his possession when he was arrested last year. Last year, Det. Robert Hankard was indicted on federal charges related to allegations he provided a BB gun he knew would be planted on a suspect. Also in 2020, the city settled with William James and Ivan Potts, admitting the guns that led to their wrongful convictions were planted by Baltimore police. In Potts’ case, police had attempted to shove a gun in his hand to get his fingerprints on the firearm and then beat him so badly he had to be driven to an emergency room before he could be booked and charged.

Just before this story went to print, the city approved a $230,000 settlement with Richard Gibbs, after a jury basically agreed police planted a gun on him after he was shot in the chest during a routine traffic stop.

“Let Me Put It This Way, I Don’t Think There Is Anyone Outside The City State’s Attorney’s Office That Believes The Prosecution Of Keith Davis Jr. Should Continue.”

ALL THAT SAID, the crux of the state’s murder case against Keith Davis Jr. comes down to four things. 1) The test-fire markings from the gun police say they recovered near Davis, according to BPD experts, match the shell casings from Pimlico. 2) The partial palm print found on the gun after police turned it in. 3) The cell tower pings that put Davis in the general radius near Pimlico when Jones was killed. 4) Prosecutors say, following the mysterious appearance of sidewalk surveillance video at the third murder trial, that a mask-wearing man walking behind Jones moments before he’s shot to death—is Davis.

On closer inspection, the underlying facts behind each point are less than rock-solid. First, it’s necessary to recall the testimony of the department’s ballistics examiner at the armed robbery trial. He testified he found no traces of gun residue on the Hämmerli Trailside pistol police say they found atop the refrigerator and testified it hadn’t been fired that day. It suggests Davis would’ve had to have had access to a utility brush, swab, rod and bore cleaner, and lubricant, and known how to clean a gun, and done so somewhere in the time between Jones’ murder and the shooting in the garage. More generally, ballistics evidence has come under significant scrutiny in recent years. Detroit’s ballistics unit was shut down when auditing revealed a 10 percent error rate. Regarding the fingerprint evidence, which is not the DNA equivalent many people believe, BPD’s analyst testified she left her office, went to evidence control to retrieve the gun, returned to her office, and conducted an elaborate process that manually traces the fingerprint in loops, in a mere six minutes, according to logs. At trial, she testified she kept no notes, a common best practice. This, however, is also not a surprise. While violent cases are prioritized, in August the head of BPD’s crime lab came out publicly and acknowledged a backlog of 11,000 fingerprints.

In terms of cell tower pings, which don’t pin locations like the GPS on your phone does, those are not really in dispute, only the way they’re presented. Davis lived in Columbia, Maryland, at the time, and his alibi, confirmed by others, is he was staying several blocks from Pimlico at Kelly’s stepmother’s home after a neighborhood cookout the evening before Jones’ killing. In fact, Kelly also kept a screenshot of a 90-minute call they had that morning, her to him, which began, at most, five or six minutes after Jones was shot 11 times, in what appears a targeted execution.

Outgoing call
Sunday, June 7, 2015, 4:56 AM
90 mins 23 secs

“Keith would have to be a sociopath to go on some random killing and crime spree, shooting someone he doesn’t know 11 times, then talking on the phone with me, completely normally for 90 minutes, then what, going out again to rob a hack with the same gun?” says Kelly, of the late night/early morning call. “He didn’t want to mess up because he was due to come off parole soon. Keith and I hadn’t seen each other the day before. So we’re texting and talking all night back and forth, making plans to see each other because Keith has work on Monday and so do I.” Davis had been employed for the past six months at a food preparation business in Halethorpe, a job he liked, and where he could earn overtime when he needed extra money. He had a weekend side hustle, too, helping a local moving company under the table.

As far as the footage across the street from Pimlico, it appears to show a man thicker-built than Davis, wearing a different T-shirt than the one he’s wearing five hours later when he’s shot by police. Prosecutors claim the jeans and sneakers of the suspect in the video resemble those of Davis, but none of Jones’ blood or DNA was found anywhere on Davis’ clothes or possessions or vice versa. Mostly, however, the blurry images preclude identification, one way or another. When Veney was on the stand, he said he’d looked at the tape previously, did not reveal the nature of its contents to anyone, and dismissed it as having “no evidentiary value.” Given that it shows Jones in his Pimlico uniform, a man pulling a mask on behind him, and a possible witness walking his dog—it is an incredible statement.

“First, there is the fact that Detective Veney said he asked the CCTV street footage be pulled [from closed-circuit police cameras at the Pimlico intersection] and was told the cameras were pointed at the trees,” says attorney Natalie Finegar, who represented Davis at his third murder trial. “I tried to subpoena that video, but because he made no actual formal request to see the footage, it was deleted. As far as the store surveillance video, either he never watched it and said he did—or he saw it and kept its contents to himself. But in the middle of the third trial, it is suddenly found and introduced, and state goes from claiming it shows nothing of value to [saying] the suspect in the video is my client? I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I have never seen anything like that.”

Then, there’s the lone eyewitness to the killing, whose account Veney also dismisses. Fellow Pimlico security guard Vaughn Ringgold told Veney he was walking to work like Jones and interacting with him just before Jones ducked through a popular cut-through in the gate outside Pimlico’s expansive parking lot where he was shot. Ringgold told Veney and his partner the killer “looked like he was in his about 30s or 40s” and indicated he appeared bulkier than the 23-year-old Davis. “I would say he probably—probably works out.”

One more revelation about the murder investigation, or lack thereof: Another co-worker of Jones’ provided a lead on a potential motive for the killing. But not only did Veney and detectives not follow-up with Donald Long, it is believed by Davis’ defense team they withheld that possible exculpatory motive theory. Long signed an affadavit in 2019 saying that Jones had told him he “dabbled in buying and selling drugs” and that he wanted to get out of dealing because he’d been shot in the leg previously, and two weeks prior to his murder, he had witnessed his cousin’s murder. Long wrote in his sworn statement that he believed Jones was targeted after witnessing his cousin’s murder. In fact, as McDonell-Parry, who has since become an investigator in the public defender’s office, learned during her reporting, several associates of Jones were killed in the weeks before and after his murder.

Former commissioner Kevin Davis, who led the BPD from July 2015 to January 2018 and is now the Fairfax County police chief, would not discuss police-involved shootings or FIT unit investigations during his tenure.

Kelly Davis looks around the auto repair shop in Park Heights where her then-boyfriend, now husband, Keith Davis Jr. was shot by Baltimore police. Photography by J.M. Giordano

IN A BRIEF, time-constrained phone interview from prison, the soft-spoken Davis admitted it has been a difficult half-dozen years locked up, physically and emotionally, away from Kelly, her kids, and his family. The missed birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays remain especially hard. By his wife’s count, he has been moved more than 12 times from institution to institution, which makes maintaining those bonds even more challenging. “It has been kind of up and down, but I try to stay as positive as possible,” Davis says, adding he still suffers from breathing issues, particularly when he first wakes up, from sinus problems caused by the shooting.

On the advice of his legal counsel, he won’t discuss the current pending cases, but adds that he is aware of the advocacy for his cause from the vocal band of “Team Keith” activists. “It’s a blessing,” he says.

In October, Kelly Davis stepped inside Big Herb’s Auto Repair for the first time. Big Herb has since passed, but his oldest son, also Herbert Berkley, was inside doing work on a car on the garage’s lift. The 5200 block of Eleanora Avenue is more alley than street in this disjointed section directly behind Reisterstown Road. Keith’s stepfather used to help run the family bail bonds business a half-block up Reisterstown Road, which is why Keith had come this way the morning the hell began. He’d walked the mile from Kelly’s stepmother’s house, accompanying an uncle who cleaned a nearby restaurant and bar on weekends. Davis hung around, planning to check in on his stepfather, whom he expected would open the office a few doors down around 10 a.m. For years as a kid, Davis’ stepfather, Tony, had picked Davis and his sister up after school and brought them back to work until it was time to go home for dinner. The Northwest District police station sits 150 yards away on the same side of the block.

At the first trial, Keith Davis Jr. testified he’d just lit a cigarette in the 5200 block of Reisterstown Road when someone yelled, “Gun!” As Eskins came running down the alley next to the food mart, he took off.

The alley street in front of Big Herb’s is narrow, but it is usually a beehive of activity. There’s a couple other small tire and repair shops. On a recent Saturday afternoon, at the repair shop closest to Herb’s place, a handful of guys with Caribbean accents are turning wrenches and sipping bottles of beer. Kids race bicycles and dirt bikes up and down the alley because theoretically, without speeding traffic, it’s safe. Around the corner, there’s a commercial BBQ grill cooking chicken and ribs on another convenience store’s sprawling lot, doing a brisk business. Further down, Jack Paulsen Park is packed with families for weekend youth football games. Later, in the afternoon, high-stepping West Baltimore marching bands parade down Park Heights Avenue just below Pimlico.

Park Heights, which is also where Mayor Scott grew up, is a complicated place. The block of rowhomes where Kelly’s stepmother lived have been knocked down. Over on West Belvedere Avenue, exactly where Charles Holden was robbed at gunpoint in his own car, young guys are busy on the corners selling drugs, practically stopping traffic to do so. Two other adults on the street are pointing at the ground, the ubiquitous Baltimore signal to hacks that they need a lift.

As Kelly steps from the bright sunlight into the open garage, Berkley, a large man like his father, takes a stride forward to greet her. He’s been expecting her. It’s quiet for the moment outside.

“Hi, I’m Kelly,” she says, extending her hand. “My husband was shot in here.”

“I’m sorry,” Berkley says softly, stepping back and telling her it’s okay to look around. To take her time. The shop is larger than the average two-car suburban garage, but not a lot. She notices a white refrigerator against one wall and asks Berkley if it’s the same refrigerator that had been there on the day of shooting.

“It’s not,” he says. “The old one used to be over there,” he adds, gesturing toward a steel beam in the middle of the garage floor. She looks and then turns back, suddenly noticing the first few of maybe two-dozen bullet holes that are still visible in the bathroom and office walls, and the pockmarked concrete wall in the rear. She notices another hole in a metal tool chest, and begins to choke up and wipe away tears.

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After months of silence, former Baltimore police commissioner Anthony Batts told The Baltimore Sun that Mosby “is in over her head” and that she shouldn’t “create more flaws in that broken [criminal justice] system and you don’t do it on the back of innocent people just to prove that.”

Batts, who was head of police from 2012 and fired in July 2015 following the city’s unrest and homicide spike of last summer, defended the six officers involved in the Freddie Gray case.

“I didn’t see any malice in the heart of those police officers,” he said. “I don’t think those officers involved are those you would put in the class of bad or malicious or evil police officers.”

The former commissioner went on to say that Mosby never should have never filed the charges in the first place.

“She’s immature, she’s incompetent, she’s vindictive, and that’s not how the justice system is supposed to work,” he said. “The justice system is supposed to be without bias for police officers, for African Americans, for everyone.”

Mosby’s office responded by referencing a speech First Lady Michelle Obama made at the DNC on Monday night.

“Today Donald Trump and former commissioner Anthony Batts have attacked the State’s Attorney in numerous ways, but as our First Lady Michelle Obama said, when they go low we go high,” said spokeswoman Rochelle Ritchie.

On the contrary, current Police Commissioner Kevin Davis released a statement yesterday praising Mosby’s announcement to drop the charges, calling it “a thoughtful decision that will help move our city forward.”

“Our police officers and detectives work with the State’s Attorney’s Office every day to bring solid cases against criminals who seek to harm others and attack our quality of life,” Davis said. “It’s an inherently strong relationship that can not and will not miss a single beat. We will continue to work together. That’s what we do.”

Davis also added in that the internal investigation of the police department, including the imbedding of The Sun‘s Justin George, speaks volume’s for the department’s transparency.

“As the quality of this investigation has been called into question, I want to remind our residents that over 30 ethical, experienced, and talented detectives worked tirelessly to uncover facts,” he said. “They are more than willing to hold persons who commit crimes accountable for their actions.”

He concluded by reiterating that “the tragic death of Mr. Freddie Gray has stirred emotions in all of us. And while we are all entitled to our own opinions, we are not entitled to our own facts. Our American criminal justice system has run its course, and today’s decision by State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is a wise one that will undoubtedly help Baltimore to continue to heal.”

To what extent Batts’s remarks reflect some personal animosity toward Mosby after her public demeaning of his former department’s investigation of the Gray’s death, or serve as the objective analysis of an ex-Baltimore police commissioner, may be hard to discern. Davis, of course, remains tasked with working with Mosby and her office, as well as both his officers, the community, and local activists. Since he has taken office, Davis has been responsible for many reforms to the department since he took office, namely adding more officers on foot patrols and overhauling a decades-old “use of force” policy.

“Our police department continues its journey to get better each and every day,” he said. “Together with our community, we have made remarkable strides over the last year that will serve as the foundation for the equitable police-community relationship we all deserve.”

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Along with the case against Miller, the City State’s Attorney’s Office is dropping charges against Sgt. Alicia White and Ofc. William Porter. White’s trial was scheduled for October and Porter’s retrial—his first trial ended in a hung jury—was scheduled for December. With the dropping of all charges, the gag order imposed in the cases was also rescinded by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.

Prosecutors had failed to earn a conviction in the first of four trials of the six officers charged in connection with the death of the 25-year-old Gray, who suffered fatal spinal injuries in custody while being transported in the back of a police van.

Ofc. Caesar Goodson, the driver of the police transport van, was acquitted of all charges, including the most serious facing any of the six officers—second-degree depraved heart murder—in late June. Ofc. Edward Nero and Lt. Brian Rice were acquitted of charges ranging from second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office.

The timing of the decision this morning by prosecutors was a surprise, but ultimately not wholly unexpected. It comes as apparent acknowledgement of the unlikelihood of earning a conviction in the rest of the cases after the previous acquittal rulings by Williams, who was expected to preside over the remaining trials from the bench as well. Nero, who was on hand in support of Miller, said he was “relieved” by the decision to drop the charges.

At a press conference held at the site of Freddie Gray’s arrest, City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby defended her decision to bring charges against the six officers last April.

“Despite that challenges of not having an independent investigatory agency to work with us throughout this process, we still are grateful for the opportunity to show the world the reality of the justice system from start to finish,” Mosby said. “The legitimacy of our prosecution efforts were affirmed time and time again.”

Mosby also placed blame for her office’s failure to successfully prosecute the cases on the Baltimore Police Department. There were “lead detectives that were completely uncooperative and started a counter-investigation to disprove the state’s case by not executing search warrants.”

At every step of the way, Mosby said, due process was afforded to all of the officers.

She said she recognized that Judge Williams made it clear that he does not agree with the State’s theory in the case—essentially that the officers were criminally negligent in detaining and failing to seatbelt Gray—adding that her office “does not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself.”

“As a mother, the decision not to proceed on these trials is agonizing,” Mosby said. “What I’ve ultimately learned throughout this arduous process is that . . . justice is always worth the price paid for its pursuit.”

“For those that believe that I’m anti-police, it’s simply not the case. I am anti-police brutality,” she added to cheers from onlookers gathered at the press conference.

Finally, Mosby said: “Without communal oversight of policing in this community, without real substantive reforms to the current criminal justice system, we could try this case a hundred times, and cases just like it, and we would still end up with the same result.”

Some observers have called for Mosby to step down in light of the failed prosecutions, alleging she over-reached in bringing the charges against the officers initially. George Washington University public interest law professor John Banzhaf III has said he intended to file a complaint against Mosby with the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission.

Harvard Law School criminal law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Institute, Ronald Sullivan defended Mosby’s decision to bring charges in an op-ed to The Baltimore Sun this week.

In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the Baltimore Police Department will still complete an administrative review of each officer involved. “I recognize the emotional nature of this case,” Rawlings-Blake said. “The eyes of the nation, indeed the world, have been on Baltimore for a very long time and I thank the citizens of our city for their patience during these trials. Now I ask the citizens to again join me in being patient as the administrative process moves forward.”

The Baltimore Police Department said they would not make a formal comment at this time, but would release a statement later.

“Everybody wanted to find out what happened to Freddie Gray,” Ivan Bates, defense attorney for Sgt. White, commented. “The Baltimore City Police Department did the investigation and they said it was an accident. The [Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office] had an opportunity to do an in-depth investigation, and they did not. It is the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office that has denied justice to the Gray family.”

Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, responded to the announcement this afternoon at a press conference.

“The state’s attorney simply could not accept the evidence,” Ryan said. “There was no wrongdoing by any officer.”

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Lt. Brian Rice, 42, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office in the death of the 25-year-old Gray, who died last April from injuries suffered while being transported in a police van.

To date, two officers involved with the arrest and transportation of Gray—Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson Jr.—have been acquitted of all charges in the case. Officer William Porter’s trial ended in a hung jury and he is scheduled to be tried again in September.

Nero and Goodson each sought bench trials, with Baltimore City Circuit Judge Barry Williams determining their fate, as has Rice.

Officer Garrett Miller is scheduled for trial at the end of this month. Sgt. Alicia White is scheduled for trial in October.

At issue in Rice’s case—and in each of the trials thus far—was the failure to properly secure Gray in the back of the police transport van while in custody. Defense attorneys in the other cases have argued that the officers did not receive proper training in the securing of the detainees, and that they hadn’t been aware of new departmental guidelines requiring the seatbelting of all detainees. Defense attorneys have also argued that officers are allowed to use their discretion in seatbelting detainees who may be considered a physical threat.

Prosecutors had hoped to introduce some 4,000 pages of documents—evidence related to Rice’s training, according to The Baltimore Sun—into court, but were denied this week by Williams. The judge ruled that the prosecutors had sought and turned over the documents to Rice’s lawyers too late in the process.

Rice was one of three Baltimore bicycle patrol officers who chased and detained Gray at the Gilmor Homes public housing complex in West Baltimore early Sunday morning on April 12, 2015. He was also one of the officers who first placed Gray into the back of the police transport van.

As the highest-ranking officer on duty that day at the Western District police station, Rice had authority over the officers on the scene, prosecutors argued in their opening statement. Legal observers largely agree, however, that prosecutors face an uphill battle in the Rice trial, particularly given their failure to earn a conviction on any charges against Goodson, the van driver, who had direct custody of Gray after he was placed in the transport vehicle.

Nonetheless, University of Baltimore law professor David Jaros noted that the public still has yet to hear the statement Rice gave investigators after Gray’s fatal arrest and ride.

“Because we don’t know his statement, we don’t know if there’s different support for some of the key elements that we couldn’t find in the prior trials,” Jaros told the Sun. “We also have a slightly different set of circumstances.”

It still remains unclear why Gray was arrested and ultimately placed into the back of the van—other than that he’d initially run from police in a so-called high crime area after allegedly making eye contact with an officer. Gray was eventually found to have a small knife in his possession, but whether the knife was legal or illegal in Baltimore City hasn’t been an issue in court.

Allegations of police brutality have received renewed attention this week in the wake of deadly and controversial police shootings of citizens in Louisiana and Minnesota that were captured on video.

Some have questioned City State’s Attorney General Marilyn Mosby for going forward with charges against the remaining officers in lieu of any convictions thus far. But University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor Douglas Colbert said after Goodson’s acquittal that, if nothing else, the public is learning how criminal, policing, and judicial systems function in the city.

“It’s like two totally different judicial systems, and I’m talking about white folks, in upscale neighborhoods, who generally have positive interactions with police,” Colbert said. “I think it’s important for them to see how different the interactions of people of color with law enforcement often are.”

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Goodson was the driver of the van in which Gray, according to the state medical examiner’s office, suffered a broken neck and the severe spinal cord injuries that led to his death last April.

Goodson Jr. has been charged with second-degree depraved heart murder—the most serious allegation made against the six officers involved in case—involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter by vehicle, criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment.

In two previous trials, Baltimore prosecutions failed to earn convictions in trials involving two police officers involved in Gray’s arrest and transportation.

In a bench trial last month, Judge Barry Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero of charges of assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of misconduct in office. Williams said in reading his verdict that Nero had essentially acted in a manner that “a reasonable officer” could be expected to act during his relatively minor role in Gray’s arrest and transport.

Officer William Porter’s manslaughter trial ended in December with a hung jury. He is scheduled to be tried again in September.

In both of those trials, defense attorneys and the expert witnesses they called stated that ultimate responsibility for securing detainees being transported rests with the driver of the vehicle—in this case—the 46-year-old Goodson. Like Nero, Goodson and his attorneys sought to have the case decided by Williams rather than a jury. A second-degree depraved heart murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Goodson is the only one of the six officers who did not make a statement to police investigators after Gray’s injury and death.

David Jaros, a University of Baltimore law professor who has been following the trials, told The Baltimore Sun that the outcomes of the first two trials should not be considered predictive of the outcome in the Goodson case.

“The case against Officer Nero was one that involved some very close legal questions that, I think, the defense felt favored them and so wanted a judge who appreciated the legal standards that were in question,” Jaros said. “Goodson’s case will rest less on the complexity of the legal theory and more on questions of fact and responsibility, which we consider more in the jury’s bailiwick—the questions of what happened.”

Others experts have said that proving second-degree murder after the failure to secure a detainee will be a heavy burden for prosecutors. Specifically, demonstrating that Goodson gave Gray a so-called “rough ride” without surveillance video and eyewitness testimony would be a challenge. Prosecutors indicated at the first day of the trial yesterday that they believe—and they are in possession of—such evidence.

The Baltimore Sun reported last April that Gray was not first detainee to suffer spinal chord injuries after unsecured rides in city police vans.

Tessa Hill-Aston, Baltimore chapter president of the NAACP, noted after Nero’s acquittal the difficulty for Gray’s family in going through six separate trials. She also indicated frustration that the responsibility for the failure to properly seatbelt Gray has been passed from one officer to the next thus far at the two trials.

“Police rules have at least changed for the better since [Gray’s death]—I’ve read them.” Hill-Aston said.”In the future, no officer will be able to claim it was someone else’s responsibility—a superior officer or the driver. It is everyone’s responsibility now.”

Meanwhile, five of the six police officers charged in relation to Gray’s death, including Porter, Nero, Garrett Miller, Alicia White, and Brian Rice, are known to have filed defamation suits against City State’s Attorney General Marilyn Mosby now. Nero and Miller allege, for example, that Mosby intentionally made allegations she knew “contained false statements” and spoke in a “divisive and inciting manner” when announcing the charges against the police officers at a press conference that received national media coverage.

A copy of Nero and Miller’s 28-page civil suit can be read here.

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Judge Barry G. Williams declared a mistrial Wednesday afternoon after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict to acquit or find Porter guilty of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, or reckless endangerment.

Attorneys are due in court tomorrow to discuss a retrial and date.

The case of Porter, 26, was sent Monday afternoon to the 12-person jury—made up of four black women, three white women, three black men, and two white men—for deliberation. The maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault is 10 years on each count; the maximum sentence for reckless endangerment is 5 years; and the penalty for misconduct in office is left to the judge, in this case, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams. He has been free on bail since May when the charges were announced by City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued the following statement shortly after the mistrial was declared:

“A few minutes ago, Judge Barry G. Williams declared a mistrial in the criminal case of Officer William Porter because the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. It is now up to State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to determine whether to further pursue criminal charges. This is our American system of justice. Twelve Baltimore residents listened to the evidence presented and were unable to render a unanimous decision. As a unified city, we must respect the outcome of the judicial process. In the coming days, if some choose to demonstrate peacefully to express their opinion, that is their constitutional right. I urge everyone to remember that collectively, our reaction needs to be one of respect for our neighborhoods, and for the residents and businesses of our city. In the case of any disturbance in the city, we are prepared to respond. We will protect our neighborhoods, our businesses and the people of our city.”

Retired nurse Rosemary Cosgrove, standing outside the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse on Monday, said she believed that Porter shared some blame for Gray’s death.

“It’s unjust trying to put it all on the van driver [Officer Caesar Goodson, who Porter’s attorney maintain had primary custody of Gray],” Cosgrove said. “[Goodson] didn’t have that visual contact with Freddie Gray. It’s definitely a shared responsibility.”

Arthur B. Johnson Sr., a retired Bethlehem Steel worker holding up a “Justice for Freddie Gray” sign, said that he didn’t think Porter should be held responsible for Gray’s death—but that the other officers who arrested Gray, their supervisor, and the van driver—should be convicted on some charges.

“I don’t think Mr. Porter is guilty,” Johnson said. “He checked on him several times.”

Shai Crawley, 20, of East Baltimore, saw it differently. “[Porter] needs to be found guilty,” Crawley said. “He may have not had an immediate role, but he told investigators that Freddie Gray asked him for help.”

Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, and other city officials and leaders (have) expressed concerns about potential protests leading up to the announcement of verdict if the jury returned ‘not guilty’ decisions on the charges.

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Gregory E. Thornton sent out a letter to parents and families Monday asking for “help in preparing our students to act responsibility and safely in the event that disorders occur.” After the release of the letter, Porter’s defense attorneys asked for a mistrial in the case, claiming a reference to “potentially violent situations” could impact juror’s impartiality, especially if they had children in the school system. Williams denied that request.

Davis, in an open letter to the police department on Monday, implored officers to continue to “take the ideals of service and protection seriously and reject the notion that any particular circumstances or moment can sully our unconditional dedication to our police department, our profession, and our city.” Meanwhile, additional police officers from other jurisdictions were called into the city Tuesday as backup.

At a press availability at his midtown Baltimore office Tuesday, Rep. Elijah Cummings said the verdict has “as much legitimacy as our society can provide.” A former practicing attorney, according to The Washington Post, Cummings said that the judicial system in Porter trial was working as well as it can:

“The state investigated thoroughly, he said, and Porter offered a vigorous defense. He noted that the jury was made up of ‘our neighbors’—citizens of Baltimore—who had to be trusted to reach the right conclusion.

“We will all be on trial in the days and weeks ahead,” Cummings said. “Our future as a more just community will depend more upon our actions than it will upon the decision of Officer Porter’s jury.”

Gray died from severe spinal injuries after suffering a broken neck at some point during a 45-minute, multi-stop ride in a police transport van last April. He was found unconscious and not breathing at the Western District police station. His death last spring after a week in a coma at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Crowley Shock Trauma Center sparked arson, property destruction, and looting in the city on the night of April 27, as well as attacks on law enforcement.

Protests in the city over Gray’s death, police brutality, and criminal justice reform issues, in general, have continued since last spring. Meanwhile, homicides in Baltimore have reached unprecedented levels, totaling nearly 330 to date this year.

Five other Baltimore police officers have been charged in the Gray case, including Officer Caesar Goodson, the driver of the transport van, who faces a charge of second-degree depraved heart murder at his trial, scheduled for Jan. 6, 2016.

Closing arguments in Porter’s trial—the first of the six officers to go to trial—concluded Monday.

In Maryland, involuntary manslaughter is defined as the killing of another unintentionally while doing an unlawful act (not a felony), a negligent act, or by negligently failing to perform a legal duty.

Reckless endangerment is defined as conduct that creates a substantial risk of death of serious physical injury to another.

Second-degree assault in Maryland is defined by intentionally causing or attempting to cause serious physical injury to another.

Misconduct in office is described as “corrupt behavior by an officer in the exercise of the duties of his or her office or while acting under color of office,” in the Maryland’s Public Ethics code.

*This story will be updated.

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1. The Death of Freddie Gray Sparks Citywide Unrest

–Lara Davidson

– Sean Scheidt

We have to go back nearly 50 years to another April, in 1968–after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.–to find a time when the city dealt with a crisis comparable to the one it faced this past spring. The riots and public uprising that followed the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray from injuries endured while in police custody shook Baltimore to its core and changed the way the world saw us–and we saw ourselves. Gray’s death–ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner’s office–lit a fuse that continued to burn for days, fueled by decades of social and economic injustice in many of the city’s poorest African-American neighborhoods.

Gray’s death on April 19, following a week in a coma after suffering a severe spinal-cord injury–allegedly during a so-called “rough ride” in a police transport van–sparked two weeks of unrest, including the violent night of Monday, April 27, that culminated in hundreds of arrests, injuries to numerous Baltimore police officers, and the destruction of dozens of local businesses. During the surreal aftermath, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake implemented a citywide curfew and Gov. Larry Hogan deployed heavily armed Maryland National Guard troops and armored vehicles to patrol downtown.

Of course, Gray’s death hadn’t occurred in a vacuum, but came on the heels of the widely publicized deaths of black men at the hands of police officers in Ferguson, MO; Staten Island, NY; Cleveland, OH; and elsewhere. In the months leading up to the unrest, alarming local police-brutality issues also were raised in compelling reporting by The Sun’s Mark Puente. Subsequent protests ultimately led to the firing of Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and likely influenced Rawlings-Blake’s decision not to seek re-election.

One difference in Baltimore, as opposed to the aforementioned cities, is that six police officers–whose trials remain in various stages–were quickly charged for their alleged roles in Gray’s death by then-newly elected city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby.

Kevin Davis, the city’s new Police Commissioner, recently told Baltimore that he hopes 2015 will mark a turning point in relations between the police department and aggrieved communities–and the city as a whole.

“This is a transformative moment for the City of Baltimore, and I will continue to urge my neighbors to remain peaceful while continuing to seek justice for Freddie Gray.”U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, 5/1

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2. Marilyn Mosby’s Star Turn

–Alex Brandon/AP

It’s not every day that a city state’s attorney becomes a national celebrity. But Marilyn Mosby’s speedy indictments of six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray and her self-assured announcement of those charges at a frenzied press conference in front of the city’s War Memorial Building, thrust the attractive, 35-year-old mother of two into the limelight just months into her tenure. For better or worse, Mosby subsequently appeared in the pages of Vogue in a shoot by famed fashion and art photographer Annie Leibovitz, and gave interviews to Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire. She also took the stage alongside her husband, City Councilman and now-mayoral candidate Nick Mosby, during Prince’s Rally 4 Peace concert at Royal Farms Arena. Whether Marilyn Mosby is ultimately viewed as a heroine or another ambitious, over-reaching politician will likely depend on how her office handles the cases against the officers.

“To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace.’”Marilyn Mosby, 5/1

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3. Homicides Spike Following Freddie Gray Unrest

–Patrick Semansky/AP

After the death of Freddie Gray from injuries suffered while in police custody, Baltimore saw a surge in homicides the likes of which it hasn’t witnessed since the 1990s. Almost inconceivably, the city matched 2014’s homicide total of 211 on August 19 when a man with a bullet wound was found inside a vacant house not far from the Pennsylvania Avenue CVS store that burned in the riots. While it’s impossible to say with certainty what has driven the increased violence–also witnessed in other cities across the U.S. this year–Baltimore had recorded a typical number of homicides (65) prior to the unrest. Afterward, however, a four-decade high of 43 murders in May was followed with 45 killed in July. By November, the tally was 285, putting the city close to the record pace of 1993 when 353 people were murdered, and once again placing Baltimore among the most dangerous cities in the country.

“It’s the toughest job in the United States at the moment.” Eugene O’Donnell, John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor and a former New York City police officer, on the challenge facing then-interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, AP, 7/9

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4. Mayoral Race Thrown Wide Open as Rawlings-Blake Forgoes Re-election Campaign

In a stunning turn of events, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced in September that she would not seek re-election in the 2016 mayoral race, saying that she would dedicate the remainder of her term to helping the city recover from the Freddie Gray unrest. Many suggested that she was simply bowing out of a race she could no longer win. But whatever her motives, the announcement threw already-announced candidates–including former Mayor Sheila Dixon, State Senator Catherine Pugh, and City Councilman Carl Stokes–into overdrive and opened the door for other hopefuls. In late October, City Councilman Nick Mosby (also the husband of city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby) entered the race. Then, in November, David Warnock, a venture capitalist and the chairman of the Greater Baltimore Committee, declared his candidacy. It’s impossible to tell who will prevail in the April 26 Democratic primary, which, in heavily Democratic Baltimore, amounts to the general election–but we’ve sure got ourselves a horserace.

“It is a more wide open race today than it was yesterday.” State Delegate Sandy Rosenberg to The New York Times on 9/11, the day Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced she would not seek reelection.

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5. Red Line to Nowhere

Anyone who followed Gov. Larry Hogan’s campaign shouldn’t have been surprised when he canceled Baltimore’s planned, $2.9 billion mass-transit project in June. Hogan had said all along that he didn’t support the decade-in-the-making, 14-mile, east-west Red Line effort. When he hired Pete Rahn, a road builder from New Mexico, as his transportation secretary, the die was cast. Still, Hogan’s official rejection of $900 million in approved federal funding for the light rail system seemed to catch Baltimore’s elected leaders off guard, while delivering a crushing blow to a city in need of good news and economic development. When the Hogan administration later released its state road and highway improvement plans–in large part funded from Red Line savings–and Baltimore was left off the map, it seemed a telling slip that revealed the governor’s political agenda.

“Every other county shows investments being made, and Baltimore is literally and figuratively a gaping hole.”State Senator Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, to The Sun, 6/25

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6. Orioles Play to an Empty Stadium

–Meredith Herzing

Baseball has been played professionally in this country since the 1800s, so it’s rare to hear about any unprecedented event in the sport. But 2015 was a year of firsts for Baltimore. After canceling two previous Orioles games, the league announced that the April 29 game against the Chicago White Sox would be played in a closed stadium–a first in MLB history. This was, of course, days after protests and riots damaged businesses surrounding Camden Yards, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “these decisions are in the best interests of fan safety and the deployment of city resources.” Closed to the public, the only people inside the stadium were players, staff, and media (more national media than we’ve ever seen at Camden Yards, including during a playoff series). The entire experience was surreal, but the strangest thing was what you suddenly could hear: players cheering from the dugouts, outfielders calling for balls, umps making third-strike calls, and balls smacking into fielders’ gloves. Not surprisingly, Birdland couldn’t be tamed completely that day, as fans–just outside the left-center field gates–chanted “O-R-I-O-L-E-S” and steadily cheered their team to an 8 to 2 win.

“It’s not an easy time for anybody right now. It doesn’t matter what race you are. We need this game to be played, but we need this city to heal first.”Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, 8/29

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7. Gov. Hogan Diagnosed with Cancer

Only months after his upset victory over then-sitting Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Gov. Larry Hogan announced he had been diagnosed with a “very aggressive” cancer. In a June press conference, Hogan said he was told by doctors that the B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma had spread quickly to his neck, chest, groin, and abdomen. He also had been told, however, that he had a “strong chance of survival,” and he vowed to continue his duties while undergoing treatment. And he has, winning the admiration of the public: A Goucher College poll released in October found 54 percent of those surveyed felt favorably about Hogan, a 21 point increase from the college’s previous poll in February. Those are pretty good numbers in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. The former real-estate executive, 59, who was elected on a promise to curb spending and roll back tax increases, recently completed his last round of chemotherapy, and now hopes to regain his strength–and his hair.

“All of the experts tell me that they believe that I’ll come out of that completely clear. They also tell me it’s gonna beat the hell out of me.” Gov. Larry Hogan at a press conference, 6/22

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8. Senator Barbara Mikulski Retires

In a move that shocked many Marylanders, long-serving Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski announced on March 2 that she would not be seeking a sixth term. The Highlandtown native, a social worker-turned-U.S.-Representative-turned-Senator, has served in Congress longer than any other woman in history, and is beloved for her unpretentious, dogged, and feisty ways. Known as the Dean of the Women, she serves as a mentor to other women in the Senate and was also the first woman to chair the prestigious Senate Appropriations Committee, where she is now the ranking member. Her announcement left local politicos scrambling and, so far, only two candidates–U.S. Representatives Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen–have thrown their hats into the ring. (U.S. Representative Elijah Cumming also hasn’t ruled it out.) In a way, this makes sense. The diminutive Mikulski may have small feet, but she has enormous shoes to fill.

“Do I spend my time raising money, or do I spend my time raising hell? Remember, for the next two years I will be here, working the way that I do.” Senator Barbara Mikulski, at the press conference announcing her retirement, 3/2

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9. American Pharoah Wins Preakness En Route to Triple Crown

–Meredith Herzing

The rain streaked down that mid-May afternoon–and then, so did American Pharoah. Baltimore watched with baited breath as the Kentucky Derby-winning colt took an almost immediate lead and barreled down a swampy Pimlico track toward the 140th Preakness Stakes’ winner’s circle–and eventually the Belmont Stakes and the elusive Triple Crown. Forgetting the weather, the record-setting crowd went wild and jockey Victor Espinoza beamed as he slowed to a canter, thrusting his crop triumphantly in the air. In a time of speculation that the race might move to Laurel Park and just a few weeks after the social upheaval that followed the death of Freddie Gray, it was, despite the torrents, a bright moment in an otherwise gloomy spring.

“What a day for Baltimore. They really needed this after all they’ve been through.”American Pharoah trainer Bob Baffert, The Sun, 5/16

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10. Kevin Plank Buys Port Covington

–Courtesy of Under Armour

The days of easy parking in Port Covington are numbered. Sagamore Development, the real-estate investment firm controlled by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, purchased the 128-acre industrial area in early 2015 and has announced big plans for the under-utilized commercial/industrial hub. These include a new campus for Plank’s booming sportswear company, which last year earned revenues in excess of $3 billion and is outgrowing its Tide Point headquarters. Eventually, the project will include mixed-use development as well, such as an Under Armour retail store and residential units, but first Plank will be mixing up some good hooch: A whiskey distillery slated to open in late 2016 will produce Sagamore Spirit whiskey brand. The distillery complex also will include a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and a barn that will house the city’s mounted police unit. Public records say Plank paid about $90 million for the tract, which is off Interstate 95 on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River. Currently, it is the site of a Walmart. We call this an upgrade.

“People said, ‘You should look at the county or Pennsylvania.' That’s not really our bag. We’re of this city, from this city, and we’re going to build something great in this city.” Kevin Plank in the Baltimore Business Journal , 3/2

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11. Gov. Hogan Closes Jail

–Office of the Governor

“Today, I have instructed Secretary [of Public Safety & Correctional Services, Stephen T.] Moyer to immediately shut down the Baltimore City Men’s Detention Center,” Gov. Hogan said in a July 30 press conference outside the turreted jail that towers ominously over East Baltimore. And with that, a corruption-plagued, vermin-infested chapter in Baltimore’s history came to an abrupt end. By late August, the remaining inmates at the state-run jail had been moved to other facilities. Though Hogan’s announcement ruffled a few feathers–Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was caught unaware and Hogan wasn’t shy about blaming the jail’s failures on previous administrations–few quibbled with the act. Some parts of the jail pre-date the Civil War, and it showed. Plus, it was a hive of corruption. Most recently, the leader of the Black Guerilla Family gang had impregnated guards and run a drug-smuggling operation while incarcerated. For most, closing the jail wasn’t a matter of good-bye so much as it was good riddance.

“I could barely stomach it.” Stephen T. Moyer in The Sun, 8/27

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12. Washington Monument Renovation Unearths Two Time Capsules

–Mount Vernon Place Conservancy

The past was very much present during the renovation of Baltimore’s Washington Monument. The 18-month, $5.5 million project involved painstaking restoration work on the 200-year-old column and culminated in a grand reopening celebration on the Fourth of July. But the journey to that point was equally momentous. In October 2014, workers discovered a time capsule dating to 1915. Then, in February of this year, crews found a second capsule that had been laid in the monument’s cornerstone in 1815. Naturally, the public was fascinated. And while the contents of the capsules proved prosaic–coins, newspaper clippings, likenesses of historical figures such as Francis Scott Key and, naturally, George Washington–the discoveries provided a link to our collective past and prompted reflection on what we can leave for future generations.

“You just felt these people in 1815 taking those [newspapers] and putting them in this container and burying them.Lance Humphries of Mount Vernon Place Conservancy to WBAL, 2/18

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13. Martin O’Malley and Dr. Ben Carson Mount Presidential Campaigns

– Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, Joe Raedle/Getty Images

To us, they’re just Marty and Ben, a city councilman-turned-mayor-turned-governor and a world-famous Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon, respectively. For decades, their blandly handsome mugs have been staring out at us from billboards, TV commercials, and the covers of countless magazines (including this one). But now the rest of the country is meeting them as presidential candidates–and responding with varying degrees of interest. Carson, who is vying for the Republican nomination, is, as of this writing, surging in the polls in Iowa in advance of that state’s influential January caucuses. O’Malley, on the other hand, seems stuck in the back of the Democratic pack, overshadowed by the fame of Hillary Clinton and the populist momentum of Bernie Sanders. But that hasn’t stopped him from using every weapon in his political arsenal–including his, um, guitar. He covered Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” on The View in October, and yet his poll numbers remain in the single digits. Maybe try “Shake It Off” next time, Marty!

“Whatever the polling is today never reflects what they ultimately decide.”Martin O’Malley, Bloomberg Politics, 10/27

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14. Molly Shattuck sentenced

–Algerina Perna/The Baltimore Sun/AP

Even before the news broke late last year, it was the worst-kept secret in Baltimore: Forty-eight-year-old Molly Shattuck, the ex-wife of former Constellation Energy CEO Mayo Shattuck, had performed oral sex on a 15-year-old boy, a schoolmate of her son’s at an exclusive private school in Baltimore County. The ugly truth was confirmed in June when she pleaded guilty to fourth-degree rape. Then in August, a judge sentenced the former Ravens cheerleader to 15 years in prison, with all but two years suspended. She was ordered to spend 48 alternating weekends in a detention facility in Delaware, the state in which the rape occurred. Many saw the sentence as a mere slap on her tiny wrist, but by September, Shattuck was dividing her days between a no-frills cell in jail and her well-heeled home in Baltimore. “I take full responsibility for what I did,” Shattuck sobbed in court. “I was the adult.”

“Miss Shattuck is a criminal. She admits to being a rapist. . . . She must be held responsible.”The victim’s mother, The Sun, 8/21

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15. Doreen Bolger Bids Farewell to the BMA

–David Colwell

She was known throughout Baltimore for attending fancy galas and Station North warehouse shows alike. She championed free admission at The Baltimore Museum of Art, and it was under her direction that the museum re-opened its historic doors to the public–both literally and figuratively. Bolger oversaw an unprecedented $28 million renovation that aimed, in part, to make art more accessible to everyone. When she announced she was retiring after 17 years, there was plenty of sadness in the arts community. But she went out with a bang at a party at the BMA in June, seated on a flaming throne as members of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society performed and revelers helped paint a mural designed by renowned street artist Gaia. Better still, Bolger assures us she intends to remain here and continue to advise the BMA as it attempts to find her successor.

“Doreen has transformed The Baltimore Museum of Art into one of the most dynamic and innovating cultural institutions in the country. . . . Her wisdom and experience will be missed.” Christine Anagnos, executive director of the Association for Art Museum Directors, 4/8

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16. Spike Gjerde wins James Beard Award

–Galdones Photography/James Beard Foundation

For Woodberry Kitchen owner Spike Gjerde, who in May won the coveted James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid Atlantic, the third time was the charm. Going toque-to-toque against Charleston’s Cindy Wolf, this was the farm-to-table chef’s third consecutive year as a finalist. And his win was the first James Beard Award ever given to a Baltimore chef. Speaking by phone from Chicago, where the awards were doled out, he told us that when his category was called, “I just closed my eyes–it was a magical moment.” The ensuing months have been a little less magical, however. In June, two Woodberry Kitchen pastry chefs slapped a suit against Watershed LLC (the parent company of Woodberry Kitchen, Artifact, and Parts & Labor) over unfair wages. Turns out, most medals tarnish with time.

“I just felt it was really great validation for Woodberry and for Baltimore as a city.”Spike Gjerde, The Sun, 5/6

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17. Millennial Media Acquired by AOL

Millennial Media, one of Baltimore’s better-known homegrown tech startups, got swallowed up by AOL in September in a $238 million deal that could turn around the mobile advertising firm’s plummeting profitability. AOL, which itself was acquired by Verizon in June for $4.4 billion, could also benefit from the deal by being better able to compete with other big media companies, such as Google and Facebook, on mobile platforms. Notably, the $238 million was about one-eighth of Millennial’s market value on the day of its IPO in 2012. Since then, the stock price has slid downward with the company losing $149 million last year and $35 million in the first half of this year. It also remains to be seen what the acquisition means for the combined 450 staffers in the local AOL and Millennial Media offices.

“I think the deal was great for AOL/Verizon and probably viewed [as] so-so for Millennial.”John Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com, the former Baltimore startup also acquired by AOL, The Sun, 9/3

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18. Veep Vacates Maryland

– Pat Gavin

No more Julia Louis-Dreyfus sightings at Whole Foods. No more trying to suss out when Baltimore is standing in for D.C. No more moments of “Hey, that’s my favorite bar on TV!” On June 18, HBO announced that it would be moving production of Veep, the Emmy-award-winning political comedy, from Maryland to Los Angeles for the show’s fifth season. As is so often the case, money was the deciding factor. Veep was granted $6.5 million in tax credits by the California Film Commission. After the show won Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2015 Emmys, Veep cast member Timothy Simons tweeted: “Love to our Baltimore crew. We love and miss you. This is impossible without you. Thanks for everything.” No Veep, thank you.

“The producers and HBO would like to thank Maryland for making the last four seasons of Veep such a success. We look forward to returning with another production in the future.”statement from HBO announcing Veep was leaving Maryland, 6/18

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19. CLUB Hippo Closes

–Mike Morgan

In what was arguably one of the best years for the LGBTQ community, Baltimore suffered a loss when the news broke in May that Club Hippo would close. After more than four decades as an anchor of Baltimore’s gay scene, owner Chuck Bowers decided it was time to retire, and, in early October, he shut the iconic nightclub’s doors for good. Opened in 1972, the Hippo served as a safe haven for all walks of life through times of adversity, including the AIDS epidemic. It was a comfort zone, where people could be themselves without fear or judgment. And sometimes that meant howling “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes with a bunch of your closest friends in its beloved karaoke room, or catching the latest drag show on the dance floor. Of course, the Hippo couldn’t go out without one last big party, which it held on September 26 as a packed dance floor boogied to one last song (“It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls, of course). After 43 years of acceptance, enlightenment, and pure entertainment, the Hippo is now gone, but not forgotten.

“Chuck Bowers, the staff and management of the Hippo want to thank everyone who supported us over the past 43 years! Just remember, ‘The enchantment has ended but the SPELL remains.’”Club Hippo Facebook page, 10/5

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20. Episcopal Bishop Kills Cyclist

On New Year’s Day, more than 1,000 cyclists gathered for a silent memorial ride up Roland Avenue in honor of popular Baltimore bike builder Tom Palermo, who had been killed in a drunken hit-and-run accident just days prior. Per cycling community tradition, a white-painted “ghost bike” was chained to a pole near the crash location, with flowers and candles placed around the makeshift memorial. The driver of the car that killed Palermo, Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook, pleaded guilty to automobile manslaughter in September and was sentenced to seven years in prison in October. Meanwhile, organizations such as Bikemore, the city’s nonprofit bicycling advocacy organization, and Bike Maryland continue to press for tougher penalties for negligent drivers and safer roads for cyclists.

“Last Saturday was a beautiful day and Rachel [Palermo’s wife], realizing how busy they had been, suggested to Tom that he do what he loved and go out for a ride.”Jeff Hulting, at brother-in-law Tom Palermo’s memorial ride, talking about the day Palermo died, Baltimoremagazine.net , 1/2

Honorable Mentions: More Moments That Mattered

In January, President Obama used Charmington’s coffeehouse in Remington as the backdrop for an appearance promoting paid sick leave. His appearance thrilled onlookers and staff, especially when a presidential aide left a $30 tip on a $60 bill.

West Baltimore photographer Devin Allen landed the cover of Time magazine in April with his snap of a young black man fleeing a horde of police officers during the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray.

Buck hated it, but everyone else recognized the brilliance of the O’s promotional Buck Showalter garden gnome. #SHOWtheGnome, indeed.

In July, several cast members from The Wire reconvened at Artscape to discuss the Freddie Gray unrest and honor community leaders. It was great to see that Omar, Kima, Bubbles, Dukie, Snoop et al. hadn’t forgotten from whence they came.

One Direction minus one (fare thee well, Zayn!) rolled into M&T Bank Stadium in August for the teenybopper concert of the year.

A man in a crowd outside the Republican presidential debate in Cleveland in August waved a sign asking, “Is Joe Flacco A Elite Quarterback?” for MSNBC cameras. The image went viral and inspired a new round of earnest philosophizing on Flacco’s eliteness.

In July, 8-year-old Zion Harvey of Owings Mills became the first pediatric patient to receive a double hand transplant.

Baltimore’s fecund indie-rock scene—including Future Islands, Beach House, and Dan Deacon—proved its drawing power with a sold-out concert at Pier Six Pavilion in August.

In October, one of two blimp-like surveillance crafts floating above Aberdeen Proving Ground came unmoored and drifted into Pennsylvania. The absurd, slow-motion chase—and the memes it spawned—had the Internet ROFLMAOing.

Union Memorial orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lew Schon got to live out his rock star fantasy this July when he joined the Foo Fighters on stage in Boston to perform The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” He got the gig through his patient—Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.

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In September, Cook pled guilty in Baltimore City Circuit Court to vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, and texting while driving.

“I am so sorry for the grief and agony I have caused,” Cook told Palmero’s family in court, according to reporting by WBAL-TV. “This is my fault. I accept complete responsibility. I think about you every day.”

The 59-year-old Cook resigned her position as Bishop Suffragan of Maryland earlier this year.

Palermo, a married father of two children, was a Johns Hopkins Hospital software engineer, part-time bike builder, and well known member of the Baltimore bicycling community.

Cook pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in 2010 in Caroline County, receiving supervised probation before judgment. She was also initially charged with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia as part of that incident, but those charges were later dropped (“nolle prosequi,” according to online court records).

According to the City State’s Attorney’s Office, Cook’s blood-alcohol level was .22 at the time of the Saturday afternoon crash that killed Palmero when Cook veered into the Roland Avenue bike lane that he was riding in.

On New Year’s Day, more than 700 bicyclists gathered in Bishop Square Park, adjacent to the Episcopal Diocese’s Cathedral of the Incarnation on University Avenue, for a memorial ride in Palmero’s honor. Bicycle advocates, per tradition for cyclists killed on the road, placed a memorial “ghost bike” at the scene of tragedy.

“My heart goes out to the Palermo family,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement. “I appreciate the cyclist community of Baltimore for supporting the Palermos in their time of need. This senseless tragedy is a clear example of why law enforcement takes drunk driving and texting while driving so seriously.”

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Mosby, 36, joins a crowded field of hopefuls that includes former Mayor Sheila Dixon, fellow City Councilman Carl Stokes, and state Senator Catherine Pugh.

Mosby—a Baltimore native who was elected to City Council in 2011—was joined for the announcement by about 300 supporters, including his wife, city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who stood silently by her husband’s side during his announcement.

The Mosbys rocketed into the national spotlight this spring when Marilyn Mosby, in her role as the city’s chief prosecutor, brought charges against six city police officers accused of contributing to the death of Freddie Gray in April. Meanwhile, much of the rioting and peaceful protesting that surrounded Gray’s death consumed Mosby’s 7th District, which encompasses Sandtown-Winchester where Freddie Gray lived, Mondawmin Mall, where Baltimore City public school students clashed with police, and Penn North where some of the worst rioting occurred. Councilman Mosby made almost as much of an impression as his wife during the unrest when a video of him with a Fox News reporter went viral. In the clip, Mosby describes that night’s rioting as “wrong” and “destructive” but also the product systemic neglect and oppresion of young, poor, inner city black men. “This is bigger than Freddie Gray. This is about the social economics of poor urban America,” he said. ” We look at communities like this in urban America—lack of education, lack of commercial development, lack of opportunity—it’s the social economics of it. It has nothing to do with West Baltimore or this particular corner of Baltimore. This could erupt anywhere in socially economically deprived America.”

In his announcement, Mosby hit many of the same themes, positioning himself as a fresh voice and a champion of the overlooked and underserved. “As a father raising two young girls in West Baltimore, you can count on me to fight for better schools, safer streets, more jobs, a transparent government, and better police-community relations,” said Mosby, who lives with his family in Reservoir Hill. “To the young man out there who seems invisible, I see you. To the young woman who feels voiceless, I hear you,” he said.

Mosby emphasized his own journey as proof of this. He grew up in Northeast Baltimore, raised by a single mother. He then graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and earned a degree in electrical engineering from Tuskeegee University. He also has worked as a network engineer and project manager for companies such as Verizon and BGE.

“I can go into any boardroom downtown, see an issue, develop a plan, and execute on it. But you can drop Nick Mosby on any street corner from East to West Baltimore and I can do the exact same thing,” he said to appreciative applause and cheers from the crowd.

Mosby’s entrance in the democratic mayoral primary—which, in a city where registered Democrats far outnumber registered Republicans amounts to the general election—further shakes up an already unpredictable race. Current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced in early September that she would not seek reelection. Until then, many political watchers were sizing up the race as a contest between former Mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to resign amidst scandal in 2010, and Rawlings-Blake who had seen her popularity plummet after this spring’s unrest. With Rawlings-Blake out, some were calling the race Dixon’s to lose, though Dixon was candid in a recent interview with Baltimore magazine about pockets of weak support throughout the city, especially in traditionally white neighborhoods. (An article about Dixon’s comeback attempt is available in the November issue of Baltimore magazine.)

Jeff Smith, an assistant professor of politics and advocacy at The New School in New York City, also spoke to Baltimore for the Dixon article, and said he feels Dixon has a good shot at reelection, but that a candidate like Mosby would be Dixon’s “nightmare scenario.”

“Someone that has decent black support—and especially black elite support—but then total crossover appeal,” would likely threaten Dixon’s base, he posited.

Among those present at yesterday’s rally were City Council president Bernard C. “Jack” Young (who also attended a similar rally of Dixon’s in September) and fellow City Councilman Robert Curran, who represents much of Northeast Baltimore in the 3rd District. Another prominent Baltimorean, whose presence spoke to Mosby’s potential crossover support was Phil Chorney, a cofounder of the Charm City Folk and Bluegrass Festival, who credited Mosby with bringing the festival from the parking lot at Union Craft Brewing in Hampden to Druid Hill Park, where it has flowered into one of the city’s most popular springtime events.

“Councilman Mosby most likely did not grow up listening to bluegrass, but every year he comes out to support us,” Chorney told the crowd.

However, Mosby has a few things working against him, including his late start in the race.

“As a former politician, I know it’s really hard to raise money between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. So . . . you basically only have from January until April to raise money and that’s not very long,” said Smith, a former Missouri state Senator who narrowly lost a Democratic primary to replace retiring Congressman Dick Gephardt in 2004. (Smith was subsequently convicted of two counts of obstruction of justice related to a campaign finance scandal and served a year in federal prison.)

Perhaps the more pressing problem for Mosby is worry that, if elected, his marriage would present a conflict of interest. As The Sun notes in an article today, Mosby “would have authority over the $38 million budget of his wife’s office and her more than 300 employees.” Furthermore, The Sun notes, “City prosecutors have been known to bring charges against wrongdoing by employees of the Police Department or other city agencies. Marilyn Mosby is currently investigating alleged wrongdoing by public housing employees, who are overseen by the mayor’s housing chief. If Nick Mosby were to win, Marilyn Mosby could find herself in a situation where she would be tasked with investigating people on her husband’s staff.”

Though neither Mosby commented on the potential conflict of interest yesterday, Marilyn Mosby did address the topic in an interview with Baltimore in January. When asked if her new role as city state’s attorney conflicted with her husband’s City Council position, she said, “There is no conflict of interest. I am beholden to the constituents who elected me. I’m not beholden to City Council, so there’s never any conflict or should be any appearance of a conflict of interest between my husband being a public servant and myself being a public servant.”

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Judge Barry Williams ruled against motions put forth by attorneys for Baltimore City police sergeant Alicia White and officer William Porter, concluding their statements were legally obtained by internal oversight investigators after White and Porter signed Miranda and state Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights waivers.

In announcing his decision, Williams said prosecutors had met the burden of proof that White and Porter—whose interviews with police internal oversight detectives were videotaped and briefly shown in court—had been made voluntarily and were not coerced by investigators.

“She had the opportunity to say, ‘No,’ to say she didn’t want to give any statements,” Williams said, referring to White.

“The interview was not done with undue influence,” Williams said in denying Porter’s motion to suppress his statements to police investigating Gray’s death from spinal cord injuries suffered while in custody.

Williams also canceled a pre-trial motion hearing set for Wednesday morning and placed a gag order on attorneys for the remainder of trials, banning prosecutors and defense lawyers from discussing the cases with the media and anyone beyond their legal teams. Among other leaks in the case to date, The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of the autopsy report.

Prosecutors from the city state’s attorney office allege that Gray asked police officers for medical attention, but that he did not receive care until he was found unresponsive upon reaching the police station after multiple stops. Prosecutors have also said—as did then police commissioner Anthony Batts earlier this year—that Gray was not secured and seat-belted in the police van, contrary to department policy.

Motions to suppress statements by three other officers charged were withdrawn by their defense attorneys Tuesday morning.

The sixth defendant, officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who faces the most serious charge, second-degree depraved heart murder, had refused to give a statement to police investigators. Goodson was the driver of the transport van in which Gray suffered his fatal spinal injury.

All the officers facing criminal charges, White, Porter, and Goodson, as well as Lt. Brian Rice and officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, appeared in court Tuesday, sitting together.

Baltimore city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who announced the charges against the police officers in a high-profile press conference last spring, was also present in the courtroom. However, Mosby sat a row behind chief deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow and deputy state’s attorney Janice Bledsoe, who handled the prosecution’s efforts in front of Williams.

Porter’s trial is scheduled first, for Nov. 30, and his statement—allegedly confirming that Gray asked for medical care, according to reporting by The Baltimore Sun—is considered critical to prosecutors’ cases against other officers. Porter is charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and second-degree assault, as is Rice.

White, as well as officers Nero and Miller, is charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office.

Goodson’s trial is set for Jan. 6 and White for Jan. 25, with the other trials scheduled for February and March. The six officers, all free on bail, have pleaded not guilty to every charge.

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Williams rejected pre-trial motion arguments by defense attorneys that their clients would be unable to get a fair trial in city. Defense attorneys argued that media coverage, statements by Baltimore state’s attorney general Marilyn Mosby, the riots that broke out after Gray’s death, a leak of the medical examiner’s report, as well as the City’s recent $6.4 million civil settlement with Gray’s family, had prejudiced the city’s 622,00 residents—and potential 275,000 jurors—against the six police officers to the point where impounding impartial juries was impossible.

Williams said the defense team’s argument—made by attorney Ivan Bates, representing Sgt. Alicia White in the case—“did not carry the day” and did not reach the burden requiring a change of venue set forth by Maryland’s state constitutions and U.S. Supreme Court.

The Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, which has protested in the past against police brutality, demonstrated in front of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse on North Calvert as they had before last week’s hearing.

After the ruling, exuberant demonstrators, a relatively small but vocal group numbering in the dozens shouted, “That trial stays here! The trial stays here!”

Earlier, interim Baltimore City police commissioner Kevin Davis showed up at the peaceful protests at the courthouse. Some demonstrators were not happy to see Davis, chanting, “Commissioner go home!”

“This is Baltimore’s time to get it right. Citizens ought to be able to look into the eyes of the defendants,” said Rev. C. D. Witherspoon. “It’s important that it stays in Baltimore. Just as it was important that Marilyn Mosby be allowed to continue in the case; just as it was important that the charges be allowed to stand.”

University of Maryland law professor Douglas Colbert noted that moving jurisdictions is “rarely ever done.” He called the ruling “critical.”

Prior to the hearing, Colbert said removing the case to another jurisdiction “would almost be an insult to residents of the city.”

“I believe in our jury system more than any other part of our legal system,” Colbert said.

Those sentiments were echoed by Michael Schatzow, the chief deputy state’s attorney for Baltimore City, in rebutting the defense team’s effort to remove the case from the city’s jurisdiction.

Schatzow also noted that an “incredible amount of discretion” remains in the hands of the trial judge as part of the jury selection process.

“It would be insulting to the citizens of Baltimore [to remove the case to another jurisdiction],” Schatzow argued. “We have a very large, diverse citizenship.”

In making his ruling, Williams essentially concurred with Schatzow, saying, “the citizens of Baltimore are not a monolithic group” and had “the integrity and intellect” to form their own opinions—outside of those expressed by city leaders, clergy, and others.

“To presume prejudice is not fair to the defendants, who have a right to be tried in the jurisdiction where the event occurred,” Williams said.

The pre-trial motion hearing today came one day after mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s administration and the City Board of Estimates approved the wrongful death payout to Gray’s family. That move was praised by some for avoiding potentially even costlier and divisive litigation—and criticized as premature by others—who said the settlement would affect jurors and impact the officers’ ability to receive a fair trial in Baltimore.

In a statement released after the wrongful death settlement was announced, Lt. Gene Ryan, president of Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #3, called the decision by city officials “obscene and without regard to the fiduciary responsibility owed to the taxpaying citizens of the City.”

Ryan also said the settlement “threatens to interrupt any progress made toward restoring the relationship between members of the Baltimore Police Department and the Baltimore City government.

Rawlings-Blake said the settlement agreement “should not be interpreted as a judgment on the guilt or innocence of the officers facing trial.” She also said that along with potentially saving taxpayers money, the settlement would avoid “protracted litigation that would only make it more difficult for our city to heal.”

A trial date in the Gray case has been set for Oct. 13, though it likely will be pushed back after Williams’ ruled against a motion by prosecutors to try three of the officers together last week.

The six officers are currently set to be tried separately. None have been required to be in attendance at the pre-trial motion hearings.

Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charge—second-degree “depraved-heart” murder—in the death of Gray, who was fatally injured while being transported in a van driven by Goodson. Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and officer William Porter face manslaughter charges. All six of the officers, who also include Edward Nero and Garret Miller, have been charged with second-degree assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment.

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“The State has recommended 20 years in prison, with all but 10 years suspended, and five years of probation,” Rochelle Ritchie, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office director of communications, told Baltimore magazine. “The sentencing date is scheduled for Oct. 27.”

Cook’s trial had originally been set for tomorrow, but was moved up.

The 59-year-old Cook, who was the second-highest ranking bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland when she struck and killed 41-year-old Tom Palmero on Roland Avenue on Dec. 27, initially pled not guilty to all charges and had been free on a $2.5 million bond.

She resigned her position as Bishop Suffragan of Maryland earlier this year.

It’s since been learned that Cook pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in 2010 in Caroline County, receiving supervised probation before judgment. She was also initially charged with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia as part of that incident, but those charges were later dropped (“nolle prosequi,” according to online court records).

According to a previous statement from the City State’s Attorney’s Office, Cook’s blood-alcohol level was .22 at the time of the Saturday afternoon crash and that Cook veered into the bike lane that Palermo was riding in. At one of then-new Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s first press conferences, prosecutors alleged that Cooke failed to remain at the scene, returning to her apartment before coming back to the scene where she was transported by Baltimore City Police to Central District and given a breathalyzer test.

Palermo, a married father of two children, was a Johns Hopkins Hospital software engineer, part-time bike builder, and well known member of the Baltimore bicycling community.

“I think the sentence is appropriate,” said Penny Troutner, owner of Light Street Cycles and a longtime Baltimore bicycling advocate. “I’m happy she pled guilty. Tom’s family has been through enough already without having this dragged out any further in court. In a way, I feel badly that someone who has accomplished so much is going to jail, but she is going to be able to continue to live her life while those two children are going to grow up without their father. And a wife is going to have to live without her husband. I hope this sends a chill through people who drink and drive, and text and drive—that if this can happen to her—it can happen to them.”

Bikemore, Baltimore’s nonprofit bicycling advocacy organization, posted a long statement on its website after Cook’s plea today that was supportive of Palmero’s family while at the same time making the case that “as a city we must commit to stronger enforcement of negligence while operating a motor vehicle.”

“We have to commit to having zero tolerance to distracted driving. If the city claims they can’t afford to enforce the laws the state passes, we have to stop accepting that as an acceptable response,” Bikemore said in its statement. “There was a time when driving drunk was more socially acceptable than it is today. There was a time when child seats were scarce, if used at all, and seatbelt laws were just coming into fashion. The argument that getting people to put away phones while we are driving is just too hard doesn’t hold water.”

On New Year’s Day, more than 700 bicyclists gathered in Bishop Square Park, adjacent to the Episcopal Diocese’s Cathedral of the Incarnation on University Avenue, for a memorial ride in Palmero’s honor. Bicycle advocates, per tradition for cyclists killed on the road, placed a memorial “ghost bike” at the scene of tragedy.

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Judge Barry G. Williams denied a defense motion to dismiss charges against the six police officers allegedly involved in 25-year-old Gray’s arrest and subsequent death after sustaining injuries while in custody.

Williams also rejected a motion to recuse Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby and her office from prosecuting the case.

Later, however, Williams ruled against the state’s motion to try three of the police officers together—Caesar Goodson Jr., who has been charged with second-degree depraved heart murder—and Sgt. Alicia D. White and Edward M. Nero, both of whom have been charged with reckless endangerment. As of now, all six police officers will be tried separately. Deputy state’s attorney Janice Bledsoe noted to Williams that the state may ask at a future date that one or more of the other cases be joined.

Decisions to reject state motions for joint trials are considered beneficial to defense teams. “It doesn’t allow the case against the defendant charged with the more serious crime to taint the cases against the defendants charged with the lesser crimes,” said University of Maryland law professor Douglas Colbert, who observed the motion hearings today. “It also allows the defense more time to prepare and more time to cross-examine witnesses. Now, we have to see who goes first [to trial].”

Defense attorney Andrew Graham, representing Goodson Jr., alleged Mosby’s behavior at a press conference announcing the charges—which he called “a pep rally”—as prosecutorial misconduct. Graham alleged Mosby had incited a desire for “vengeance” against the police officers and created an “impossible” environment for a fair trial in Baltimore.

Chief deputy state’s attorney Michael Schatzow responded that Mosby, seated in the second row at Wednesday’s hearing, had only read a probable cause statement against the six officers, and had not commented on the evidence in the case, or demanded convictions.

Williams, who at times appeared exasperated by each side, said he had read the entirety of Mosby’s May 1 press conference remarks announcing the charges against the officers. He said that he did not find reason to recuse the city state’s attorney or her office from the case, which he called a “rare” step and a decision “not to be taken lightly.”

He added that whether or not the potential jury pool in Baltimore City had been “contaminated” and other issues regarding jury selection would be addressed during the next pre-trial motion case.

During the hearing, dozens of protestors—in large part representing the Peoples Power Assembly—chanted and picketed outside the courthouse. In addition, community activist Kwame Rose, who we wrote about in July and whose debate with Geraldo Rivera went viral in April, was reportedly arrested for blocking a roadway. But there are conflicting reports about the incident.

At a press conference late Wednesday afternoon outside police headquarters, interim police commissioner Kevin Davis said Rose, “has been criminally charged with assaulting a police officer, he’s been charged with a couple counts of disorderly conduct, and he’s being charged with making a false statement. But, I’d really like to concentrate on the many, many other protestors who exercised their first amendment privilege. I don’t want the actions of one single person to serve as a distraction to an otherwise very productive day in Baltimore.”

Chant at courthouse: “Books not bombs, schools not jails” #FreddieGray
— Alison Knezevich (@aliknez) September 2, 2015

UPDATE: @KwameRose has received medical attention and is being charged with a misdemeanor w/ disobeying traffic laws #FreddieGray #Baltimore
— Rahiel Tesfamariam (@RahielT) September 2, 2015

#Baltimore cops arrest activist @KwameRose despite plea for help: “I got hit by a car; I need a medic.” #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/2ryr3oPEcx
— Urban Cusp Magazine (@UrbanCusp) September 2, 2015

Dave Devillasee says man w/protesters, stopped car in street, fell to ground but not hit. Police arrested him. pic.twitter.com/1KfdB6yidI
— Jessica Anderson (@janders5) September 2, 2015

@kwamerose being arrested as police push back the crowd #Baltimore #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/HcqunF89hh
— robbrulinski (@robbrulinski) September 2, 2015

Things now seem quiet around the courthouse, but we will continue to update the story as necessary.

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The hearing at the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, located at 111 N. Calvert St., is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

A demonstration, organized by the Baltimore People’s Power Assembly, which has been leading social justice and police brutality protests around the city, has been planned for 8 a.m. outside the courthouse. So far, more than 400 people have indicated on the group’s Facebook page that they intend to join the rally.

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation said it expects traffic and parking to be impacted Wednesday morning and throughout the day. The Baltimore City Police Department has cancelled all leave for Wednesday in preparation for expected demonstrations.

“We have hindsight, and we would rather err on the side of caution and have people ready, if needed. We certainly hope we don’t need them,” Baltimore interim police commissioner Kevin Davis told WBAL-TV. “This time around, we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can possibly do to protect the citizens, the businesses and police officers and demonstrate preparedness and commitment to public safety.”

Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson, who drove the van that transported Gray—and where his fatal injury is said to have occurred—is charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter, second-degree assault, vehicular manslaughter, and misconduct in office. Officer William Porter, Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Alicia White are each charged wih involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, and misconduct.

Police officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller face second-degree assault and misconduct charges.

None of the police officers are expected to attend the hearing. All have pled not guilty to the charges.

The State of Maryland Commission on Civil Rights recently posted the following fact sheet on upcoming criminal proceedings in the Freddie Gray case:

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015: HEARING ON MOTIONS

-Motion to disqualify Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore City State’s Attorney) from prosecuting/trying the case based on alleged conflict of interest.
-Motion seeking a special prosecutor whose sole responsibility will be to prosecute/try this case in court.
-Motion to seal and/or disclose various documents and other evidence.
-Motion to dismiss one or more of the charges against one or more of the defendants on various grounds.
-Motion to have separate trials as opposed to a single consolidated trial against all six defendants at the same time.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015: HEARING ON MOTION

-Change motion to “remove” the case from Baltimore City based on the assertion that media coverage makes it difficult/impossible to seat an impartial and unbiased jury. If the Judge grants this motion he would then order the case to be tried before a jury in another Maryland jurisdiction selected by the Administrative Judge for the Circuit Court.

The Judge could decide any or all of the above motions during or at the end of the September hearings, or he could defer ruling on some or all of them at his discretion.

OCTOBER 13, 2015: START OF THE TRIAL

The trial date could change depending on the various rulings on the above-mentioned motions.

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Starting immediately, two special agents each from the FBI; Drug Enforcement Agency; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Secret Service will begin working alongside detectives from the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit.

The goal of the new “B-FED” partnership is simple, city police say: accelerate the rate of homicide closures, improve the current 36 percent homicide clearance rate, and remove violent individuals from the streets.

To date, 191 people have been killed in Baltimore this year, including more than 40 people in both May and July. The 116 people killed in May, June, and July—a surge that began in the weeks after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died from injuries while in police custody—mark the highest three-month total since 1970, according to reporting by the Baltimore Sun. In 1970, however, the city also had nearly 300,000 more residents.

Baltimore is not the only U.S. city seeing an increase in homicides, and acting city police commissioner Kevin Davis noted he’d spent the morning and afternoon at a one-day summit in Washington, D.C. to address the recent nationwide spike in homicides. St. Louis, New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Chicago are among the cities facing significant increases in the number of murders this year.

At Monday’s press conference at police headquarters announcing the new task force, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. John Sarbanes, City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, and Davis, along members of the City Council and several federal law enforcement officials.

“We all know the level of violence in our city over the past months is unacceptable,” Rawlings-Blake said. “I’ve seen the resolve in our communities [to do better].” She said that the new task force will increase the resources, collaboration, and partnerships city police have at all levels. “This is the next step.”

Mikulski said the federal agents bring “knowledge and know-how,” in forensics and weapons, for example, that can assist in solving local cases. Baltimore Police Department officials also said the federal agencies can identify creative approaches in building cases against targeted individuals.

Cummings, in somber tones, said it has been painful “to see so many young lives snuffed out” and called upon community members to work with police in bringing violent individuals to justice. “If you stand back and don’t do anything, all you do is allow a murderer to do it again.”

Davis, who took over the leadership of the city police department on an interim basis after former police commissioner Anthony Batts was fired last month, said the task force will remain in place for 60 days, at which time its status will be evaluated.

Specifically, the federal-city partnership will go after “highly motivated repeat violent offenders,” said Davis. “We know who they are.”

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With the Freddie Gray tragedy, aftermath, and the recent increase in homicides in mind, we spoke with retired Baltimore City Police Department Lt. Stephen Tabeling, a former homicide investigator and police academy instructor. Tabeling (below photo) is also the co-author of You Can’t Stop Murder: Truths About Policing in Baltimore and Beyond with longtime investigative reporter Stephen Janis.

What was your initial reaction last month to the sudden increase in shootings and homicides?

Homicides around the United States are cyclical, but when this [spike] hit, it seemed to me that the police had stopped aggressively policing.

When you say “aggressively policing”—what do you mean by that?

The best tool we have to get guns off the street is “stop and frisk.” But it has to be done properly, with reasonable cause. Whether you make an arrest and charge someone, or don’t find anything and let him or her go—you have to write a report. The Supreme Court gave police that authority in Terry v. Ohio, an 8-1 decision. In my book, I say you can’t stop murder because it’s a crime of passion, but you can get guns off the street and prevent murder. You have to follow the law, but you also have to be a little aggressive. Unfortunately, some policemen have strayed away from the law and that’s how this started.

But by taking someone’s gun away [via stop and frisk], you limit their opportunity to commit a homicide, to commit a lot of crimes.

What do you believe is the reason for police becoming less aggressive and making fewer arrests over the past several weeks?

I think police are doing their jobs, but when the prosecutor [Marilyn Mosby] brought the false arrest charges [against officers involved in the Freddie Gray case], police officers became a little leery about aggressively making arrests. They’re worried about putting their hands on people and getting charged. You can’t police when you’re in fear and, when I say that, I don’t mean physical fear—these guys would take a bullet for a citizen—I mean fear of not being backed up and supported.

You don’t think the City State’s Attorney should have brought forward the false arrest charges, which, we should note, were later dropped in the grand jury’s indictment?

I’m just one person, but it’s not just me—a lot of people feel that way. Police officers deal with a lot of problems and have to make a lot of instantaneous decisions. They don’t often have time to sit and think things through and consider everything—they have to act and react in the moment. They will make mistakes in judgment.

Do you think criminals feel emboldened currently because arrests are down and maybe they feel like police are more hesitant to confront them?

They know if they’re carrying a gun, they’re less likely to get caught right now.

What can be done in the short-term to turnaround this active violent stretch we’re in?

The police need to know they have the support of the commissioner [Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts], the mayor [Stephanie Rawlings-Blake] and City Hall.

You don’t feel like they do right now?

I’ve been to the Western District and I’ve spoken with a number of officers and morale is low. I can tell you as a former police detective, on the job for 25 years, and then another 10-11 years teaching at the police academy, I was embarrassed watching police officers being told to “stand down” while rocks were being thrown at them and building were being burned and looted in front of them. I’ve never seen that before in my life and I was took part in some riot situations. Police rush in, in those situations.

You know for a fact that police were given an order to “stand down.”

I know what I saw on television [as riots were taking place]. I know what I’ve read and what I’ve heard from police officers I’ve spoken with.

Other than working to improve morale, do you see specific areas where improvements can be made?

I don’t think there is good police supervision from the top on down. I also think there is too much of an emphasis on using plainclothes officers. You need uniformed officers on the street, getting to know people and building relationships to prevent crime and violence before it happens.

Longer term, how can the police respond to the challenges in the city, address and help reduce the violence?

Better training. It all comes back to training. Not just in policing, but training in the law. Police come from all walks of life today. They need to understand the Fourth [protection against unreasonable search], the Fifth [protection against self-incrimination] and the Sixth Amendments [right to an attorney] to the Constitution. They don’t need to know case law, but they need to know the concepts. And they need to be trained in how to testify.

So it all comes back to training.

That’s the other theme of my book. Ninety-seven percent of cops are good cops, good at their jobs. However, training today is not what it was in my day—and you also have investigators who don’t have the same level of experience. That’s why the closure rate is higher today that it was in the 1970s, for example, when we had more violence and fewer homicide detectives. You go out now and you see supervisors looking over the shoulders of detectives—that tells you right there they don’t have confidence in them.

Last question is about the Freddie Gray case specifically. According to the Baltimore City Police Department’s own investigation, he was handcuffed, but left unsecured in the back of the police van where his fatal injuries are said to have occurred. How did you handle arrestees and those taken into custody?

We didn’t have the police vans with the partitions in my day. We had police cruisers that came around, but you sat in the back with them. We had larger wagons that came around, too, but you always sat in the back with them—it may have been a little more dangerous—but they were never left alone.

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According to a release from the office of Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on Friday, Cook will be “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God’s word and sacraments conferred at ordination.”

And, as such, Cook “will no longer function as an ordained person in the Episcopal Church.”

In a separate, but related announcement Friday, Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton and the standing committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland announced the acceptance of Cook’s resignation as bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

Identified as the driver in the Roland Avenue hit and run crash that killed Palermo, Cook faces charges of fleeing the scene of an accident involving death, driving under the influence of alcohol, text messaging while driving, and criminally negligent manslaughter while operating a vehicle while operating a vehicle.

A trial date—the 58-year-old Cook has pleaded not guilty—is scheduled for early next month.

The 2:30 p.m. weekend crash, which occurred when Cook drove into a well-marked bike lane, according to police, led to rallies and a memorial ride in honor of Palermo, a father of two and bike builder, as well as an outcry from local cyclists for serious charges. Photos of Cook’s smashed windshield were published by WBAL.

Not long after the crash, Sutton confirmed in a statement that Cook “did leave the scene initially,” returning 20 minutes later “to take responsibility for her actions.” Subsequent accounts, first reported by the Baltimore Brew, put the time it took for Cook to return at 30-35 minutes. Also, according to several reports, at least one bicyclist followed Cook’s car as it left the Roland Avenue area, attempting to identify the vehicle.

Palermo was alive when police arrived and was taken to Sinai Hospital where he later died.

It was also learned that Cook had pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in 2010 in Caroline County, receiving supervised probation before judgment. She was also initially charged with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia as part of that incident, but those charges were later dropped (“nolle prosequi,” according to online court records).

Sutton, who knew about her earlier arrest, has said he suspected Cook was drunk two days before her September ordination at a private dinner.

Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who has received national attention for her quick action in the wake of the Freddie Gray tragedy, announced the charges against Cook on her first day in office.

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“Effective immediately, I have rescinded my order instituting a citywide curfew. My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary.

My number one priority in instituting a curfew was to ensure the public peace, safety, health and welfare of Baltimore citizens. It was not an easy decision, but one I felt was necessary to help our city restore calm.

I want to thank the people of Baltimore for their patience during this difficult time as we continue to come together to heal and restore our City.”

The rescinding of the citywide curfew order comes on the heels of City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s announcement Friday that six police officers involved in the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, who died April 19 in police custody, were being criminally charged.

The decision to rescind the citywide curfew also follows peaceful protests and rallies Friday and Saturday in the wake of Mosby’s announcement. In the last several days, particularly after the indictments against the police officers, which included a charge of second-degree murder against one officer, calls for ending the curfew immediately grew louder both from the small business community and protestors.

Later Sunday afternoon, at Mondawmin Mall, Rawlings-Blake announced that the longtime West Baltimore shopping center, which had been closed since rioting and looting there last Monday, was re-opening today.

At a small press conference in the Mondawmin parking lot after a tour of the mall, Rawlings-Blake said the Maryland National Guard will not immediately leave city today, but will begin drawing back their presence over the next week. “It’s not like you flip a switch,” Rawlings-Blake said. “They have to unwind their operations.”

Whether the decision to lift the curfew came too early, or too late, only time will tell, Rawlings-Blake said. “You’ll let me know,” she told reporters. But she added that she believes the worst of the crisis in the city is over and the state of affairs is improving in Baltimore.

‘Right now I’m very confident [the worst of unrest has passed.],” Rawlings-Blake said. “What we saw over the past few days [referencing the peaceful demonstrations], is not just the resiliency of our city, but also our communities coming together. We want to heal our city. We know we have challenges in Baltimore. We know there is work to be done.”

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Mosby said the state medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide and alleges that city police had at least five different opportunities to render medical assistance to Gray or call for medical assistance as Gray was loaded into the van in handcuffs and during later stops when they checked on him.

Gray, Mosby said, did not have a pulse and was in cardiac arrest when medical assistance was called and arrived to treat him at the Western District police station.

Mosby also said the knife found in Gray’s pants pocket after he was detained by police was not a switchblade and is lawful under Maryland law. She said that the officers who arrested Gray “failed to establish probable cause for his arrest as no crime had been committed.” Gray, who had ran after making eye contact with one officer, in other words, according to Mosby,”was illegally arrested.”

Mosby said Gray sustained a neck injury during his transport to the Western District police station and that a Baltimore City Police Department general order that all detainees must be restrained inside a police van was not followed. Gray, according to Mosby, asked several times for medical assistance, requests which were ignored by officers.

“Following transport from Baker Street, Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon,” Mosby said.

The criminal charges filed against the six police officers in the death of Gray include the allegation of second-degree, depraved heart murder against officer Caesar R. Goodson, Jr., who drove the police transport van, faces a potential maximum penalty of 63 years in prison if found guilty of all the charges brought against him. The depraved heart murder charge is unusual, Baltimore criminal defense attorney Walter Balint, with 33 years experience told Newsweek. “Depraved heart murder is a super manslaughter case. It is like taking a loaded gun and firing it down the street. You kill someone standing on the other side of the street with that shot. You didn’t intend that specific victim but you killed someone.”

Three other officers, William G. Porter, Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Alicia D. White have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, among other allegations, and face a possible maximum penalty of 20 or more years.

Two other officers, Edward M. Nero and Garrett E. Miller, have been charged with two counts each of second-degree assault, among other charges, and also face a possible maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, if convicted.

In her opening remarks, Mosby said that she had met with Gray’s family.

“I assured his family no one is above the law and I will pursue justice on their behalf,” Mosby told reporters in announcing the charges in front of Baltimore City’s War Memorial Building downtown.

In closing, Mosby highlighted her family’s extensive background in law enforcement, including her parents, who were both police officers, and said that the charges should not be viewed as an indictment of the entire Baltimore City Police Department.

She also said that she had heard protesters calls for justice in the wake of Gray’s death in police custody and had a message for them. Large demonstrations and marches are planned today and this weekend.

“Your peace is sincerely needed,” Mosby said. “I can bring justice for the man.”

Mosby said that her office’s probe into the Gray case had begun April 13, the day after he was injured, and that her team had “worked around the clock, 12- and 14-hour days” in completing their own investigation. Her office’s probe was in addition to the initial police investigation that was turned over to her office yesterday.

At a scheduled 1 p.m. press conference following Mosby’s announcement Friday afternoon, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was “sickened and heartbroken” by the charges brought forth against the six police officers. She also said five of six officers who are being charged are already in police custody.

When asked by a reporter about Fraternal Order of Police letter asking for a special prosecutor to handle the Gray case, Mosby said: “The people of Baltimore City elected me and there is no accountability with a special prosecutor.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, in a statement, said he was “pleased” that Mosby had moved “judiciously and swiftly to seek justice for the Gray family.”

“While investigations are ongoing, we must start working now to secure the safety of our children’s futures,” added Cummings, who has been a visible presence at protests in West Baltimore. “This is a transformative moment for the City of Baltimore and I will continue to urge my neighbors to remain peaceful while continuing to seek justice for Freddie Gray.”

The full video of Mosby’s press conference can be found here.

The following information is courtesy of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office and includes the respective maximum penalties, if found guilty, in parenthesis. All officers are innocent until proven guilty.

Officer Caesar R. Goodson was charged with

• 1)Second-degree depraved heart murder (30 yrs.)
• 2)Manslaughter-involuntary (10 yrs.)
• 3)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 4)Manslaughter by vehicle-gross negligence (10 yrs.)
• 5)Manslaughter-criminal negligence (3 yrs.)
• 6)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)

Officer William G. Porter

• 1)Manslaughter-involuntary (10 yrs.)
• 2)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 3)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)

Lt. Brian W. Rice

• 1)Manslaughter-involuntary (10 yrs.)
• 2)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 3)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 4)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 5)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 6)False imprisonment (*8^th Amendment)

Officer Edward M. Nero

• 1)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 2)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 3)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 4)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 5)False imprisonment (*8^th Amendment)

Officer Garret E. Miller

• 1)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 2)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 3)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 4)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)
• 5)False imprisonment (*8^th Amendment)

Sgt. Alicia D. White

• 1)Manslaughter-involuntary (10 yrs.)
• 2)Assault-second degree (10 yrs.)
• 3)Misconduct in office (*8^th Amendment)

*Any sentence that does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment

*This story will be updated

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The mayor’s office in a statement did not indicate, when, or if, any of the results of the initial city police probe into Gray’s death will be made public. The results of the initial police investigation had been expected Friday.

The criminal investigation into Gray’s death is now in the hands of the Office of the State’s Attorney, which is also conducting an independent investigation, the mayor’s office said in its statement. Ultimately, it will be up to City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to determine whether to file criminal charges. Once the criminal investigation is complete, an internal disciplinary city police department process can begin, the mayor’s office stated.

“Even as the Baltimore City State’s Attorney conducts her investigation, it is important to remember that another outside, independent investigation is also taking place by the U.S. Department of Justice,” Rawlings-Blake said. “The family of Mr. Gray wants answers. I want answers. Our entire city deserves answers into Mr. Gray’s death. I ask that everyone remain patient and vigilant on this path to justice.”

Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for the state’s medical examiner office told Baltimore magazine this morning that every case that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner investigates is delivered to the City State’s Attorney directly and that they do not release anything to the public while a case is being investigated or prosecuted.

For the past two days now, civic leaders and local elected officials have been trying to lower expectations that more information about the circumstances of the 25-year-old Gray’s death this month in police custody would be forthcoming this week. The news the Baltimore Police Department has delivered the results of its initial investigation to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office comes a day before large protests scheduled for late Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Little new information is likely to be released publicly from the initial city police investigation, city civic leaders and local elected officials have cautioned. They have been trying for several days, in the aftermath of violent protests earlier this week, to tamp down expectations that significant new information would be released to the public immediately following the initial city police investigation. The Gray family’s attorney, Billy Murphy, and others, including City Councilmen Brandon Scott and Nick Mosby, who represents Gray’s district and who is married to the City State’s Attorney, have also been preaching patience to protestors this week.

On Tuesday night, crowds of young demonstrators noisily but peacefully marched and chanted around a cordoned off City Hall in Baltimore, Murphy tried to get the message out that the legal process will take time and protestors need to remain patient. He said that it could be weeks or longer before full investigations are completed and new Baltimore City state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby makes a decision on filing charges against any police officers involved in the fatal arrest and transport of the Gray earlier this month.

“I wish I could push a button, but justice doesn’t happen that way,” Murphy told protestors gathered around him after an appearance on CNN. “We need to lower expectations. We need to tell people straight that this is going to take time to get this right. So let’s get the word out together.”

Murphy said that he does not expect the results of their investigation to provide the public with major insights into the ongoing investigation of Gray’s death in police custody. He certainly doesn’t expect Mosby’s office to indicate a quick path to any charges. “There may be some information that gets released to the public, but I don’t think Friday [the originally scheduled conclusion of the initial police investigation] will be some magic day for disclosure,” he said.

Further, Murphy added, it terms of legal strategy, it would not behoove the City state’s attorney to tip her hand before the investigation gets to the stage where she’s ready to go forward with any potential prosecutions. “[Baltimore Ravens head coach] John Harbaugh doesn’t telegraph to [New England Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick what play he’s going to call before he runs it,” Murphy said. “You don’t to lose. You don’t want me to lose. That’s not my reputation.”

Baltimore City Council member Brandon Scott, who has expressed deep anger and frustration over Monday night’s violence and unrest in the city, shared Murphy’s desire to tamp down expectations. He also said that he doesn’t expect an accelerated investigation and/or legal action in Gray’s case. “It’s a fragile situation,” Scott said, acknowledging many protestors are demanding speedy justice. “Which is why everyone—community leaders, clergy, parents, adults, the media—needs to explain to those who want to see justice in the Freddie Gray tragedy to be patient.

“We saw the legal process took months in Ferguson, with Trayvon [Martin], with Eric Garner in New York,” Scott continued. “I’m sure some information can be released to the public [immediately], but I don’t know how much. I’m not going to be disappointed if it’s not a lot. The City state’s attorney needs to make sure she crosses all the ‘t’s’ and dots all the ‘i’s.’ And I’m sure she will.”

Nick Mosby, who helped lead a clergy march on Monday in West Baltimore as riots exploded, said, “We have to get this right.”

“It’s been many years of growing frustration,” Mosby said, referring to the plight of many of the city’s young protestors. “[Freddie Gray’s death] just blew the lid off. Many of these are children and teenagers who have been living in harsh, abject poverty without any hope of a better future. They also don’t have the means, or knowledge, to express that frustration and that’s something we have to help them learn.”

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, asked that protestors remain patient and peaceful as investigations and the legal process around Gray’s death continue. She also said that he doesn’t want city police, state troopers, out-of-town law enforcement agencies and the Maryland National Guard to escalate confrontations with protestors when they are not being violent.

Ben Jealous, former head of the national NAACP, still lives in Baltimore, where the organization’s headquarters are located. His parents met as schoolteachers many decades ago at Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School in West Baltimore. He also said the causes and conditions for the protests coming out of the city’s poverty-stricken neighborhoods have been simmering for decades.

He highlighted the peaceful protests Tuesday night throughout the city, which were followed up again by peaceful—and even celebratory— rallies and demonstrations, including a huge, diverse march from Penn Station to City Hall Wednesday afternoon.

“The city needs to be focused on rebuilding and becoming stronger after all this,” Jealous said outside City Hall. “I think the seeds [in the peaceful protests] are being planted to do just that.”

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Gray died at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma unit after suffering a broken neck following an arrest in West Baltimore. The Baltimore City Police Department has not provided the cause for Gray’s fatal injuries, which included a nearly severed spine, according to multiple reports, but identified and suspended with pay six officers involved in Gray’s arrest yesterday.

The unexplained circumstances of Gray’s death and arrest—caught on cellphone video when he appeared possibly injured, but not fatally so—has sparked days of protest in Baltimore.

According to the initial
police report, Gray was stopped because he “fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence” and that officers placed him under arrest. A knife was also found clipped to the inside of his pants pocket, according to police. “The defendant was arrested without force or incident,” the report states. “During transport to Western District via wagon transport the defendant suffered a medical emergency and was immediately transported to Shock Trauma via medic.”

In an interview Wednesday morning with CNN, Rep. Elijah Cummings said that the Baltimore City Police Department requires a “Ferguson-type” study by the Justice Department, adding that the police “. . . do not have a right stay silent.”

“They say it happened without force,” Cummings told CNN. “It’s ridiculous . . . We will have transparency. Who will speak for Freddie Gray? I want to make sure [Gray’s relatives] are treated fairly.”

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, including Cummings, U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, and Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes, had called upon the Department of Justice to open an investigation yesterday in a
letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

“I think folks have been crying for this,” City Councilman Nick Mosby, whose district includes the neighborhood where Gray was arrested, told
The Sun, referring to the federal investigation. Mosby’s wife, Marilyn, is the Baltimore state’s attorney.

Following the announcement by the Justice Department yesterday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued the following statement in support of the decision to open a civil rights probe into Gray’s death:

“From the outset of our investigation, I have repeatedly affirmed my support for an outside review into the death of Mr. Gray. Whenever a police force conducts an internal investigation, there are always appropriate questions of transparency and impartiality. My goal has always been to get answers to the questions so many of us are still asking with regards to Mr. Gray’s death. Any effort that adds additional transparency and builds community trust in this process is welcomed. This outside review will assist us in getting to the bottom of what happened to Mr. Gray in the most objective and transparent way possible.”

The Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services Office was already in the midst of conducting a “collaborative review” of the Baltimore City Police Department at the request last fall by the mayor and the police commissioner Anthony Batts. A
Sun investigation last year detailed $5.7 million in court judgments and settlements involving more than 100 lawsuits alleging Baltimore City police misconduct since 2011.

As protesters chanted “No justice, no peace!” Tuesday evening near his Sandtown-Winchester home, according to reporting by
CNN, Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, collapsed in tears at the spot where her son was arrested. Demonstrations are planned today in front of the Western District police station where Gray was taken after his arrest.

Demonstrators say they will rally in front of City Hall on Thursday.

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