Two Baltimore cops sue Maryland AG over Freddie Gray case

Officer William Porter and Sgt. Alicia White filed a lawsuit against Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who they say knowingly made false statements about the officers.

|
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, left, arrives at Maryland Court of Appeals in Annapolis, Md. The Baltimore's top prosecutor is facing criticism that she moved too quickly to file charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray.

Two Baltimore police officers facing criminal charges in the death of a young black man whose neck was broken in the back of a police van have sued the city's top prosecutor and an official in the sheriff's office for defamation.

Officer William Porter and Sgt. Alicia White filed the suit against Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby and Maj. Sam Cogen in Baltimore Circuit Court on May 2.

Porter and White are among six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray, 25, died on April 19, 2015, a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police transport van while he was handcuffed and shackled, but left unrestrained by a seat belt. His death prompted protests that gave way to looting and civil unrest.

Cogan signed and filed the initial charging documents in the case against the officers, and Mosby announced the charges in a news conference just days after the worst of the rioting.

Porter and White face identical charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

Porter's trial in November ended in a mistrial. His retrial is scheduled for September. White is scheduled to be tried in October.

Earlier this week, a different judge acquitted Officer Edward Nero of assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges.

The officers allege in their suit that Mosby, who announced charges on May 1 of last year, knowingly made false statements when she alleged wrongdoing on the part of the officers.

The suit cites statements Mosby made that Porter and White knew Gray was in distress when they checked on him in the back of the transport wagon, but ignored his cries for help and did nothing to administer aid.

"These statements were defamatory because they exposed Plaintiffs to public scorn, hatred and contempt, and thereby discouraging others in the community from having a favorable opinion of, or association with, Plaintiffs," the lawsuit says.

The suit also reads that Mosby and Cogen "breached their duty to Plaintiffs by bringing unsupported criminal charges then publicly publishing same," and that Mosby's statements were made "for the purpose of quelling the riots rather than prosecuting police officers who had committed crimes."

None of the parties involved is permitted to comment due to a gag order in the case.

The Christian Science Monitor reported that when Mosby quickly levied charges against six police officers in the death of Mr. Gray, many observers were pleased that justice was being carried out so quickly, especially following the decisions not to prosecute officers in other high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of police officers in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City. Now, critics are saying that the time may not have been right for Ms. Mosby to lay charges.

"This speaks to the notion a lot of people had when this first happened, which is that it was a rush to judgment," former civil rights prosecutor David Weinstein told the Associated Press. "The state's attorney was trying to balance what she had with the public outcry and call to action given the climate in Baltimore and across the US concerning policing, and I think she was overreaching."

Legal experts say the officers' lawsuit is a stretch.

David Jaros, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, said prosecutors have "absolute immunity unless they show true malice" toward a defendant. "If the state's attorney's office is ultimately mistaken about whether or not a crime occurred, or they lose a trial, those things don't give grounds to a defamation case," Jaros said.

The plaintiffs moved to seal the suit, but Baltimore Circuit Judge Althea Handy denied the motion Wednesday.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Two Baltimore cops sue Maryland AG over Freddie Gray case
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2016/0526/Two-Baltimore-cops-sue-Maryland-AG-over-Freddie-Gray-case
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe