Two Baltimore Police officers charged for their roles in the death of Freddie Gray are suing State Attorney Marilyn Mosby for defamation.
Officer William Porter and Sgt Alicia White filed the lawsuit against Ms Mosby, Baltimore Sherrif’s Office Maj Sam Cogen, and the State of Maryland.
The lawsuit claims that the attorney knowingly made “false” statements about the officers during her announcement of charges during a 1 May 2015 news conference, the Baltimore Sun reports.
“These among other statements were made not for the purpose of prosecuting crimes that had allegedly been committed by White and Porter, but rather for purposes of quelling the riots in Baltimore,” the suit, filed on 2 May reads.
The Sun reports that the officers had reportedly motioned for the lawsuit to be sealed, in the spirit of the gag order on criminal cases issued by District Court Judge Barry G Williams, and to “avoid any additional pretrial publicity in connection with their upcoming criminal trials”.
However, Judge Althea Handy denied the officers’ motion, saying that they “failed to provide a special and compelling reason to preclude or limit inspection of the case record sufficient to overcome the presumption of openness” under the state’s law.
Both Mr Porter and Ms White face manslaughter charges in the death a Mr Gray, who suffered catastrophic spinal injuries while in police custody. He was loaded into a police transport van handcuffed and shackled at the feet, and was not buckled in his seat.
Mr Porter was the first of the six officers to stand trial for Mr Gray’s death, but it ended in a mistrial. He is set receive a retrial in September.
Judge Williams acquitted Edward Nero, an officer who helped in the arrest of Mr Gray, on Monday. He is still subject to an internal investigation by the police department.
