Ont the heels of the news that Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero was acquitted in the trial concerning the death of Freddie Gray, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) reacted to the news and was reluctant to criticize the outcome in an appearance CNN’s “Legal View.”
Cummings, who represents the congressional district where the incident took place, told host Ashleigh Banfield that this was “the way justice rolls.”
“This is the system that we have in the United States, and clearly, the state’s attorney looked at this case,” Cummings said. “Freddie Gray, somebody who literally lived and died in my neighborhood, perished while in the custody of police and as a result of while he was in the custody of police and so somebody had to be held responsible. And I think basically the state’s attorney, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for made a call and brought charges in this case. But this is the way the justice system works. And so in the first trial, when with Officer [William] Porter had a hung jury and Judge Barry Williams, a very fair judge and runs a very strict courtroom and brilliant young man made a decision. And when people look at this, they have to say we have to trust the system that we have and in many of these cases, charges are never brought, there is no trial. So, again, this is the way justice rolls.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor