NERO TRIAL: Prosecutors, Defense Disagree on What Constitutes an Assault

In an unprecedented effort to attach criminal liability to everyday policing tactics, prosecutors zeroed in Thursday on a two-minute interaction to argue that OfficerEdward Nero assaulted Freddie Gray.

They said Nero did so not by injuring Gray in any way, but by detaining him without asking why the stop was justified.

Under intense questioning from Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams during closing arguments in Nero’s trial, Deputy State’s Attorney Janice Bledsoe acknowledged the potentially broad implications of the theory — saying such scenarios routinely play out between police and Baltimore citizens.

“That’s what happens in the city all the time. People get jacked up in the city all the time,” Bledsoe said.

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