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National
6 Baltimore Police Officers
Curfew Lifted In Baltimore After Charges Against Officers Announced
Charged In Freddie Gray’s Death
BALTIMORE, MD -- The mayor of Baltimore on Sun- day lifted a night curfew im- posed on the city last week to stem a spate of looting and arson that followed the fu- neral of a young Black man who died from injuries suf- fered while in police custody.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she believed sufficient calm had returned to allow her to end the 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew, which took effect last Tues- day after protests over the death of 25-year-old Fred- die Gray turned violent on Monday.
"My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary," the mayor said. "I believe we have reached that point today."
The mayor said the Mary- land National Guard would begin withdrawing from the streets over the next week.
The announcement on Friday by the city's chief prosecutor that she was
Atlanta Judge Reduces Sentences Of 3 Administrators In ‘Cheating Scandal’
ATLANTA, GA — A judge, declaring he wasn’t “comfort- able” with seven-year prison terms given earlier to three educators in the Atlanta Pub- lic Schools cheating scandal, on Thursday reduced their sentences to three years in prison.
“I’m not comfortable with it,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said of the sentences he handed down to the three de- fendants April 14. “When a judge goes home and he keeps thinking over and over that something’s wrong, something is usually wrong.”
Tamara Cotman, Sharon Davis-Williams and Michael Pitts, senior administrators on Thursday, had their sentences reduced to three years in prison and seven years of probation, with a $10,000 fine and 2,000 hours of community service.
Baxter had come under fire from some community leaders for giving prison sen- tences to eight teachers and administrators who stood trial and were convicted of racketeering.
They’d been accused of taking part in an effort to raise tests scores at struggling schools by erasing wrong an- swers and putting in correct answers.
MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE ....Mayor of Baltimore
bringing criminal charges against the six police officers involved in Gray's arrest has helped to defuse outrage over his death.
Republican Governor Larry Hogan welcomed the decision by the Democratic mayor, who had faced criti- cism for what some saw as a slow initial response to Mon- day's violence.
The officers charged: Clockwise from top left, the six Baltimore Police officers who were charged Friday in the death of Freddie Gray: Officer Caesar Goodson; Lt. Brian Rice; Sgt. Alicia White; Officer Gar- rett Miller; Officer William Porter; and Officer Edward Nero.
Baltimore’s Top Prosecutor Is
This is a scene as Freddie Gray was being put into the van.
BALTIMORE — Balti- more’s chief prosecutor charged six police officers on Friday with a range of crimes including murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray, a striking and surpris- ingly swift turn in a case that has drawn national attention to police conduct.
The state’s attorney for Baltimore City, Marilyn J. Mosby, filed the charges al- most as soon as she received a medical examiner’s report that ruled Mr. Gray’s death a homicide, and a day after the police concluded their initial investigation and handed over their findings.
The officers who were ar- rested, three white and three black, include a lieutenant with 17 years on the force, several near-rookies and a woman who had just been promoted to sergeant.
The most serious charges were brought against Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., who was driving the van that carried Mr. Gray to a police station after his April 12 ar- rest. Along with involuntary manslaughter, Officer Good- son, 45, was charged with “second-degree depraved heart murder,” which means indifference to human life.
All six officers were ar- rested and appeared before a judicial officer. Bail was set at $350,000 for four of the offi- cers and $250,000 for the other two, according to court records. By late Friday, court records showed the officers had been released from jail.
The officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray
Chief Prosecutor Marilyn J. Mosby.
were released from Balti- more’s Central Booking and Intake Center on Friday night after posting bail, court records show, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The four officers facing felony charges posted $350,000 bails; the two fac- ing misdemeanors posted $250,000 bails, the Sun writes.
The news comes after Allen Bullock, 18, who was captured in photos smashing police car windows with a traffic cone, surrendered to police this week at the urging of his parents. And as of two days ago, he was being held on $500,000 bail, an amount his parents could not afford.
Differences between the bail amounts set for Bullock and for the officers’ high- lights disparities in the na- tion’s criminal justice system and underscores complaints by protesters who took to the streets after Gray, 25, died of a spinal injury suffered while he was in police custody on April 12.
Bullock was one of those protesters and faces charges of rioting and malicious de- struction of property, along- side other criminal counts.
The officers charged in Gray’s death each face mul- tiple charges, with the high- est charge being second-degree depraved- heart murder, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. All six are charged with second-de- gree assault, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, reports the Sun.
BALTIMORE — Shortly before she became the youngest top prosecutor in any major American city, Marilyn J. Mosby, a daughter and granddaughter of police officers, had tough words about how the nation’s criminal justice system had handled mistreatment of Black men by the police.
Friday morning, Ms. Mosby made clear that she intends to proceed at a differ- ent pace. Her stunning an- nouncement that she would prosecute six officers in the death of Freddie Gray landed her squarely in the national spotlight, making her a heroine to those de- manding better police treat- ment of black men, but drawing sharp criticism from critics who accuse her of pur- suing a political agenda and who say she moved too quickly.
On Friday, Ms. Mosby dismissed out of hand sug- gestions she should recuse herself from the Gray case. “I uphold the laws. He makes the laws,” she said of her hus- band. “And I will prosecute any case within my jurisdic- tion.”
At 35, the Tuskegee Uni- versity alum, Ms. Mosby — whose official title is the Maryland state’s attorney for Baltimore City — has been shaped by her own experi- ence growing up Black in a tough part of town. As a stu- dent in the Boston neighbor- hood of Dorchester, she would awaken at 5 a.m. for an hour-long bus ride to at- tend school in a wealthy white suburb; she was the only Black child there.
When she was 14, her cousin was mistaken for a drug dealer, and shot and killed on the doorstep of her home. As adults, she said in an interview, both she and her husband — Nick Mosby, a member of the Baltimore City Council — have learned what it feels like
Baltimore State Attor- ney: Marilyn Mosby.
to be looked upon with suspi- cion by the police.
“I’ve had experiences as an African-American woman where I’ve been harassed by police, or my husband has been pulled over and ha- rassed by police,” she said in an interview Friday in her of- fice, near police headquarters in downtown Baltimore. “Does that give me a perspec- tive? I think it does.”
Ms. Mosby’s turn in the spotlight comes after just four month. Ms. Mosby’s turn in the spotlight comes after just four months on the job. She was elected in No- vember, ousting the incum- bent, Gregg L. Bernstein, after campaigning aggres- sively on a vow to prosecute police misconduct.
But critics accuse Ms. Mosby of playing politics and say she moved too fast, potentially jeopardizing her case. The swiftness with which she announced charges — less than two weeks after Mr. Gray died — stunned Baltimore and legal experts beyond the city.
In the interview, Ms. Mosby said she has watched tensions build between citi- zens and the police over the years, and has been troubled by it. At her news conference on Friday, on the steps of Baltimore’s War Memorial, she made clear that the events of the past week have been very much on her mind.
“To the people of Balti- more and the demonstrators across America,” she said, “I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace.’ ”
Daughter And Granddaughter
Of Policemen
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