At age 35, State's Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby is the youngest chief prosecutor in a major city, and on Friday she moved the ball on a once-in-a-lifetime case that may go on to define her career in law enforcement: All six officers involved in the fatal detainment of 25-year-old Freddie Gray are being brought up on various charges, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office, false imprisonment, vehicular manslaughter and assault in the second degree, according to reports by the Baltimore Sun and WBFF.
In a press conference, Mosby, an African-American woman, announced the findings of her team of state investigators, who scoured the evidence and reports presented to them by the city's medical examiner's office and police: "We have probable cause to file criminal charges. … This was a homicide," Mosby said boldly, which ignited a cheer from some press conference attendees.
She said that they conducted a "comprehensive, thorough and independent" investigation that began a day after Gray was injured. "My team worked around the clock, 12- and 14-hour days," Mosby maintained.
The six Baltimore police officers who were charged are Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., 45; Officer William Porter, 25; Lt. Brian Rice, 41; Sgt. Alicia White, 30; Officer Edward Nero, 29; and Officer Garrett Miller, 26.
According to the Baltimore Sun, all six officers will be charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office. One officer—Miller—will also be charged with false imprisonment, and Goodson, the driver of the police van in which Gray sustained grave injuries that led to his death a week later, will also be charged with second-degree murder and two vehicular-manslaughter charges.
Understanding the national spotlight that Gray's death has received, and the public's concern for how this case pans out, Mosby asked the public earlier this week to "trust the process of the justice system."
Mosby, who received the endorsement of the Baltimore police officers union when she ran for the prosecutor position, has also touted her own family's tradition of law enforcement. "My grandfather, my uncles, my mother, my father—I have five generations of police officers," Mosby once told a Baltimore magazine.
Mosby, who has two daughters, became the youngest chief prosecutor in the nation after her election last year at age 34. Her husband, Nick Mosby, whom she met while they were both students at Tuskegee University, sits on Baltimore's City Council. They were married in 2004. Mosby grew up in inner-city Boston. It was there that Mosby, at the age of 14, decided that she wanted to become a prosecutor after witnessing a close relative being shot to death during a robbery.