A Baltimore police officer has been acquitted on all charges for his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries last year after he was arrested and transported in a police van. Officer Edward Nero faced misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct in office. A total of six officers were charged; four were directly charged in Gray’s death. Judge Barry Williams handed down the verdict in a bench trial on Monday, ruling that “the state has not met its burden” to prove Nero’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The ruling was met with little surprise from the community in a case that many said was the state’s weakest. Gray family attorney Billy Murphy reacted to the news.

Billy Murphy: “My information is that they’re reacting to this the same way they reacted to everything else. They’re reacting calmly. The judge gave detailed reasons for why he thought the evidence was insufficient and why the law did not compel a conviction in this case. You couldn’t have asked for a better judge to do it. He was a local prosecutor here for many years. He was a federal prosecutor of corrupt cops for many years. And he demonstrated convincingly that he was not and would not be swayed by any element of the community’s preconceived notions about what the result ought to be.”