PROSECUTORS DROP CHARGES IN FREDDY GREY CASE

The Latest on the case against officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who was injured in police custody (all times local):

11:25 a.m.

The mother of Freddie Gray is blaming police for her son’s death and accusing officers of lying to investigators.

Gloria Darden spoke Wednesday after prosecutors said they were dropping the charges against the officers awaiting trial in her son’s death. Darden says police “lied, I know they lied, and they killed him.”

In a fiery defense of her case, prosecutor Marilyn Mosby blamed police for an investigation that failed to hold anyone accountable for the death of Gray, a young black man. Gray’s neck was snapped in the back of a police van, and he died a week after his injury.

Mosby says she stands by the finding that Gray’s death was a homicide, saying “we do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself.”

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11:20 a.m.

The father of Freddie Gray says the family stands by the Baltimore prosecutor who led the case against six officers charged in his son’s death.

Richard Shipley said during a news conference Wednesday that the family “is proud to have her represent us.” The prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, announced earlier in the day that she was dropping charges against the remaining officers awaiting trial in the case.

In a fiery defense of her prosecution, Mosby blamed police for an investigation that failed to hold anyone accountable for the death of Gray, a young black man. Gray’s neck was snapped in the back of a police van, and he died a week after his injury.

Mosby says she stands by the finding that Gray’s death was a homicide, saying “we do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself.”

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11:15 a.m.

State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is defending the prosecution of six officers charged in the Freddie Gray case and says she still blames police for the young black man’s death.

Mosby spoke Wednesday near the site of Gray’s arrest in April 2015. Her comments came after prosecutors told a judge that they were dropping the remaining charges against three officers. Three other officers were acquitted.

Mosby says prosecutors do not believe that Gray killed himself when he was handcuffed and shackled in the back of a police van and stand by the medical examiner’s finding that his death was a homicide.

She declined to take questions, citing a lawsuit the officers have filed against her.

Attorneys for the officers planned a news conference for later Wednesday.

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9:45 a.m.

Prosecutors have dropped the remaining charges against Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, bringing an end to the case without a conviction.

Gray was a black man who was critically injured in the back of a police van in April 2015.

Prosecutors’ decision Wednesday comes after a judge had already acquitted three of the six officers charged in the case, including the van driver and another officer who was the highest-ranking of the group.

A fourth officer had his case heard by a jury, who deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial.

Prosecutors had said Gray was illegally arrested after he ran away from a bike patrol officer and the officers failed to buckle Gray into a seat belt or call a medic when he indicated he wanted to go to a hospital.

The death added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement and caused turmoil in Baltimore, including large protests and the worst riots the city had seen in decades.

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3:15 a.m.

Pretrial motions are scheduled to begin for a Baltimore police officer facing criminal charges in the arrest and subsequent death of a young man black whose neck was broken in a police van.

Officer Garrett Miller faces assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges stemming from Freddie Gray’s death in April 2015.

Prosecutors say Miller illegally arrested Gray after the young man ran away from a bike patrol officer and was criminally negligent for failing to buckle Gray into a seatbelt or call a medic when he indicated he wanted to go to a hospital.

Miller testified against his colleagues at previous trials and will be tried by two prosecutors new to the case. Six officers, three white and three black, were charged in Gray’s death. So far, trials for four of the officers have led to three acquittals and a mistrial.