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Criminal Charges Announced Against Baltimore Police Officers In Freddie Gray's Death

Source: Andrew Burton / Getty

If you didn’t know Marilyn Mosby’s name before Friday, you know it now.

She is Baltimore’s tough talking and resolute Democratic state attorney, who in one fell swoop knocked down barriers and built bridges when she announced criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, which sparked unrest around the nation.

“The findings of our comprehensive, thorough and independent investigation, coupled with the medical examiner’s determination that Mr. Gray’s death was a homicide that we received today, has led us to believe that we have probable cause to file criminal charges,” Mosby said during a morning news conference, surprising many who expected the state to back police officers like in so many other cases in Maryland and across the nation.

But Mosby, 35, who took over the elected position in January, is unlike any other prosecutor seen in the state.

Citing what appears to be incontrovertible evidence against the officers, she listed a litany of charges against them, the greatest of which came against Baltimore officer Caesar Goodson Jr., 45, the driver of a police van that carried Gray through the streets of the city for about 40 minutes before getting him to medical treatment.

Goodson was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, second-degree assault, two vehicular manslaughter charges and misconduct in office. She announced a range of charges from second-degree depraved-heart murder, to manslaughter, to second-degree assault, against six officers in connection with Gray’s death.

Gray, 25, died in police custody from a fatal spinal cord injury, one week after he was arrested on April 12.

Mosby didn’t take the case lightly from the start. She hails from a long line of law enforcement officers herself and was deeply troubled by the allegations, she said.

“To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘No Justice, No peace,'” she said during the news conference. “Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.”

Here are 5 things you need to know about Marilyn Mosby:

  1. At 35, Mosby is the youngest chief prosecutor of any major city in the U.S.
  1. A native of inner-city Boston, Massachusetts, Mosby received a law degree from Boston College Law School in 2005 and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Tuskegee University in 2002.
  1. Mosby joined the Baltimore City State Attorney’s Office in 2005. After five months, she was promoted to Supervisor of the Early Resolution Court, where she managed and trained newly sworn prosecutors and support staff on courtroom decorum and docket management. By 2011, Mosby had moved to the General Trial Division, where she prosecuted some of the most heinous felonies in the state.
  1. She was drawn to the legal profession as a young girl after her 17-year-old cousin was mistaken for a drug dealer and killed outside her home by another 17-year-old.
  1. Mosby lives in West Baltimore and is the mother of two daughters. She is married to Nick J. Mosby, 7th District Baltimore City Councilman.

PHOTO CREDIT:

For more information on the Freddie Gray protests and uprisings in Baltimore, visit NewsOne’s hub, here.

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