A defense attorney for one of the six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray is challenging prosecutors’ claim that Gray was falsely arrested. He filed a motion Tuesday demanding to inspect the knife Gray carried.
Marc L. Zayon, the attorney for Baltimore officer Edward Nero, asked a judge to make the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office and Baltimore police turn over the blue knife Gray carried to determine whether it’s legal in the city of Baltimore. The knife was found clipped to the inside of Gray’s pants pockets after officers took him down, writes The Baltimore Sun.
There has been some questions on whether Freddie Gray had a “switchblade” or a pocket knife. The request to see the knife is significant because a folding pocket knife is not illegal. However, a spring-loaded switchblade knife is.
Last month, Baltimore City police wrote in court documents that Freddie Gray was arrested “without force or incident” for having a “switchblade knife.”
According to the Associated Press, the State’s Attorney of Baltimore Marilyn Mosby states that the knife was not a switchblade and was legal.
The knife was found “clipped to Gray’s pants pocket,” states the Associated Press.
NBC called the knife a “folding knife” that was folded in. In other words, it was a pocket knife.
The motion by the lawyer was the first legal move in defense of an officer involved in the April 12 arrest of Gray, who died a week later from spinal injuries suffered while in police custody.
(Updated article)
OK, Fine. 