The Baltimore prosecutor’s office on Thursday is beginning its highest profile and most pivotal case in the six Freddie Gray trials — the effort to convict Officer Caesar Goodson of “depraved-heart” murder.
And in data exclusively obtained by NBC News, a conviction for Goodson would be the first of its kind in at least a decade.
Failure to net a conviction for Goodson, who was driving the police van when Gray sustained ultimately fatal spinal injuries, could spell an end to Baltimore City State’s Marilyn Mosby’s high-stakes legal gambit to send a message on combating police brutality.
“She has a tremendous amount on the line, her entire career, particularly her credibility,” said former Maryland prosecutor Rene Sandler. “She should take a strong look at the other cases, if there is another acquittal.”