Officer Brian Rice has been acquitted of all charges by Baltimore Judge Barry Williams (full ruling pdf embed below).  Rice is the third of four officers accused to have been acquitted of all charges; the fourth, officer Porter, ended with a mistrial:

[…] “prosecutors have failed to meet their burden of proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, instead asking the court to rely on presumptions or assumptions something it cannot do. The court cannot be swayed by sympathy, prejudice or public opinion.”

Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby has now tried four of the six Baltimore officers and, as further evidence of the ridiculousness of her attempts, she has not been able to achieve any convictions.

BALTIMORE SUN – Prosecutors in Baltimore have failed for the fourth time to secure a conviction in the Freddie Gray case, with Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams acquitting Lt. Brian Rice of all charges related to Gray’s arrest and death.

Williams cleared Rice, 42, of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in a downtown Baltimore courtroom on Monday morning. The judge had dismissed a second-degree assault charge at the trial’s midpoint, and prosecutors dropped a second misconduct charge at the start.

Rice selected a bench trial rather than a jury trial, putting his legal fate in Williams’ hands. He was the fourth of six officers charged in the case to go to trial.

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Williams said prosecutors had failed to meet their burden of proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, instead asking the court to rely on “presumptions or assumptions” — something it cannot do. He said the court “cannot be swayed by sympathy, prejudice or public opinion.”

Based on the law, he said, the prosecution failed to prove the elements of the crimes. (read more)