UPDATE: Baltimore cops charged in Gray's death have initial bail review

BALTIMORE (AP)

Baltimore court records show the six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have had their initial bail review.

Bail was set at $350,000 for three officers and $250,000 for the other three.

One of the officers faces a second-degree murder charge and four face involuntary manslaughter charges. The most severe charge for the other two is assault.

Online court records list the race of three of the officers as black and the three others in the broad category of “white, Caucasian, Asiatic Indian, Arab,” without specifying.

Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., Officer William G. Porter and Sgt. Alicia D. White are listed as black. Lt. Brian W. Rice, Officer Garrett E. Miller and Officer Edward M. Nero are listed in the other category.

Goodson is the driver of the vehicle that transported Gray and faces the most serious charges. He is alleged to have repeatedly failed to secure Gray using a seat belt, as required by police, Baltimore’s top prosecutor said today, adding that Gray suffered a severe neck injury while handcuffed, shackled and unsecured in the van.

The bail proceedings are not open to the public under Maryland law.

The records do not indicate that the officers have yet posted bail.

About an hour earlier, Freddie Gray's stepfather said the family is satisfied with prosecutors charging the six officers involved in Gray’s arrest.

Richard Shipley said at a news conference that the charges were the first step in getting justice for Gray, who prosecutors say died after suffering the critical spine injury in the back of a police wagon.

An attorney for the Gray family says people must be mindful that the charges are a first step, not the last.

State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby says Gray’s death was a homicide, his arrest was illegal and his treatment amounted to murder and manslaughter.

An attorney speaking on behalf of the officers says the charges are a rush to judgment.

The head of a group that is holding a march Saturday says it will now be a “victory rally.”

Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, said he was pleasantly surprised by the charges and commended Mosby “for standing up for justice and setting a standard for prosecutors all over the nation.”

Shabazz has helped organize rallies after Gray suffered a critical injury while in police custody. He hopes thousands show up for his rally Saturday.

The Baltimore police officers’ union says Mosby has made a rush to judgment by bringing the charges. Atty. Michael Davey, whose firm was hired by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, says he is representing one of the officers, but is speaking on behalf of all of them.

Davey says he has never seen such a hurried rush to file charges and the officers did nothing wrong.

And one east Baltimore police sergeant has warned superiors that “it is about to get ugly.”

Sgt. Lennardo Bailey wrote in a letter to command staff in the city’s eastern district that officers are being challenged on the street. In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, Bailey says he was challenged to a fight on three of five calls he responded to today. The letter was first reported by the website Buzzfeed.

“Some of them I blew off, but one of them almost got ugly,” he said.

Police officials declined to comment and Bailey could not be reached for comment.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3 President Gene Ryan declined to comment on the report but says the decision to charge the officers will make their job harder. Ryan promised officers that the organization would continue working diligently to ensure they have support to complete their missions safely.

Earlier this afternoon, all six officers charged turned themselves in, a public safety department spokesman said.

“No one is above the law in our city,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, adding, “Justice must apply to all of us equally.”

She also says she was sickened and heartbroken about the situation.

“There will be justice for Mr. Gray,” she said.

President Barack Obama said it’s “absolutely vital” that the truth about what happened to Freddie Gray comes out.

Obama commented shortly after the charges were announced.

“It is my practice not to comment on the legal process that’s involved ... but I can tell you that justice needs to be served,” Obama said. “All the evidence needs to be presented. Those individuals who are charged obviously are also entitled to due process and rule of law. So I want to make sure that our legal system runs the way it should.”

What the people of Baltimore want most is the truth, he said.

Across Baltimore, people are reacting to the charges. When Mosby announced them, the crowd cheered. At the corner of North and Pennsylvania avenues, where the worst of the rioting took place Monday after Gray’s funeral, the mood was far different than it had been the rest of the week.

Drivers honked their horns. As buses stopped in front of the subway station, whoops and hollers came from inside the vehicle as the doors opened.

But there was no large gathering at the intersection immediately after the announcement. Still, nearly 100 police in riot gear were deployed to the intersection.

Ciara Ford of Baltimore expressed surprise at the decision to prosecute.

“I’m ecstatic,” she said. “I hope this can restore some peace.”

“It makes you cry,” said her friend, Stephanie Owens of Columbia.

Both believe the protests in the city made a difference in ensuring that authorities took the case seriously.

“If we had kept quiet, I don’t think they would have prosecuted,” Ford said.

The Baltimore police officers union says the six officers aren’t responsible for Gray's death.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 President Gene Ryan made the comment in a letter to Mosby before she announced the charges. It was the union’s strongest statement to date in the officers’ defense.

“As tragic as this situation is, none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr. Gray,” Ryan wrote. “To the contrary, at all times, each of the officers diligently balanced their obligations to protect Mr. Gray and discharge their duties to protect the public.”

Ryan asked Mosby in the letter to appoint a special independent prosecutor. He said the union is concerned about her ties to Gray family attorney Billy Murphy.

Murphy was among Mosby’s biggest campaign contributors last year, donating the maximum individual amount allowed, $4,000, in June. He was also on Mosby’s transition team after the election.

But after announcing charges, Mosby said she would not step down.