On Friday morning six Baltimore police officers were charged with the homicide of Freddie Gray, but one prominent law professor does not think anyone will actually serve jail time.
In an interview with The Daily Caller, George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf said Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby overcharged the officers.
"I think a prosecutor is going to have a hard time proving that the actions did in fact cause death, since they seem to have no theory as to how it occurred," Banzhaf said
Banzhaf is distinguished in the field of law, as he is known for helping remove smoking ads from television. He said the state's most difficult part of making the charges stick will be trying to prove the officers "directly contributed" to Gray's death.
"I think it is very difficult to pin responsibility on one person when you have four or five or six each doing a variety of things - or not doing a variety of things - which in some generalized way contributes to the overall outcome," Banzhaf said. "Again, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that each of the individuals - Officer X, Officer Y, Officer Z - what he did or didn't do was a direct cause of what happened."
Gray was arrested on April 12 after fleeing police on foot. Cops eventually apprehended him and, after he became unresponsive, drove him from a processing center to a nearby hospital. A week later, Gray died.
A medical examiner ruled Gray's death a homicide and said his neck was broken. It was also found that a bolt on the van door he was transported in matched a wound on his head.
Since his death on April 19, Baltimore, and other cities, have broken out in protests, both violent and peaceful.
While announcing the charges, Mosby said that Gray's arrest was not legal. She also said the police officers did not give him enough medical attention.
Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., who drove the police van Gray was transported in, was charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, manslaughter, assault and misconduct. Three other officers are facing voluntary or involuntary manslaughter charges, while two more are facing assault and misconduct charges.
Banzhaf concluded that a judge will probably have an issue with the charges, if the case makes it that far.
"The people who are cheering saying how wonderful this is because they support Mr. Gray may be very sadly disappointed when a judge looks at this and says, 'Well, Ms. Mosby, you just can't come in here and say 'at some point somebody did something and we believe this caused his death.""
