Court rules police can’t sue state attorney over Freddie Gray case

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The case of five Baltimore police officers who tried to sue State Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby, saying that she prosecuted them out of spite after the death of Freddie Gray, went nowhere fast after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked their lawsuit.

According to the Baltimore Sun, this ruling reverses a 2017 decision by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis who said the case could move forward against Mosby and Assistant Baltimore City Sheriff Samuel Cogen. The charges included malicious prosecution, defamation and invasion of privacy.

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The five officers who filed the lawsuit in civil court accusing Mosby of malicious prosecution was Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and Officers Edward Nero, Garrett Miller and William Porter.

The lawyers for the officers contend that Mosby “didn’t have enough evidence and charged them to ease the unrest that followed his death.”

Mosby lawyers argued that as a prosecutor, she was immune from this type of  lawsuit and the federal appeals court agreed with that argument.

“I support the court’s opinion that the people of Baltimore elected me to deliver one standard of justice for all, and that using the legal system to reach a fair and just resolution to Gray’s death was not a political move, but rather it was my duty,” Mosby said in an emailed statement.

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Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury after police arrested him, Mosby has said.

All six officers charged in the police-custody death of Gray were indicted by a grand jury  but three were acquitted by a judge of all charges. Mosby dropped the other cases.

The officers can submit a petition to the Supreme Court to hear the case, according to court documents.