Prosecutors Accuse Baltimore Police of ‘Sabotaging’ Freddie Gray Case

The lead prosecutors in the cases against police officers for the death of Freddie Gray said Thursday that Baltimore police had mishandled the case. They spoke after charges were dropped against the three remaining officers .

“There was sufficient evidence for a rational juror to convict,” Michael Schatzow, deputy chief state’s attorney, told reporters Thursday, the New York Times reports. “We believed in these cases, and we were prepared to fight very hard for these cases.”

Schtazow and Janice Bledsoe, a deputy state’s attorney, said the Baltimore police failed to deliver search warrants for the officers’ personal cellphones and said that a detective assigned to the case was sabotaging it, according to the New York Times, which was an accusation that had been made in court.

“When it comes to frustration, I plead guilty,” Schatzow said.

The prosecutors’ press conference came one day after one given by their boss, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. “There was a reluctance and an obvious bias that was consistently exemplified, not by the entire Baltimore Police Department but by individuals within the Baltimore Police Department at every stage of the investigation, which became blatantly apparent at subsequent trials,” Mosby said Wednesday. “We do not believe Freddie Gray killed himself.”

Gray died after sustaining a neck injury while in police custody in April 2015. Baltimore erupted into violence following his death. Three of the six officers charged in the case had already been acquitted before the charges against the final three were dropped this week.