Were the Freddie Gray Trials Destined to Fail?

BALTIMORE—Barry G. Williams, the Baltimore City Circuit Court judge presiding over the trials of six police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray, acquitted Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. on all charges against him Thursday. Goodson’s charges were the most serious of any brought against the officers, including second-degree depraved-heart murder.

This was the trial that Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby needed to win to justify the aggressive slate of indictments she brought against the officers. Instead, Goodson’s acquittal raised that prospect that no convictions would come. While trials of three more police officers remain, critics and analysts who have questioned Mosby’s approach all along may have come to a verdict of their own.