An angry and defiant Marilyn J. Mosby held a press conference Wednesday (July 27) to explain the decision on behalf of the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office to drop all remaining charges against the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

Mosby and her prosecution team were under a gag order for the past year while the six cases were ongoing, but today, standing at the site where 25-year-old Gray was arrested on April 12, 2015, she was clear about the obstacles she faced at every stage of investigating and prosecuting the case, saying, “We’ve all borne witness to the inherent bias that exists when police police themselves.”

One Year Later, We Remember Freddie Gray

Inevitably, people will say Mosby failed the family of Freddie Gray, but she passionately defended herself, saying that despite being threatened, harassed, mocked, ridiculed and sued because of the case, she did not cower or waver in the fight. She tried to assure Gray’s stepfather, who stood beside her, that although the media tried to paint her as someone with an agenda, she and her team had only one goal.

“For those who believe I’m anti-police, I’m not; I’m anti-police brutality,” she said. “I need not remind you that the only and the greatest loss was that of the life of Freddie Gray.”

The decision to drop charges was an admission that defeat was inevitable, considering the proceedings for the first officer ended in a mistrial, and the same judge who acquitted the next three officers, Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams, was scheduled to preside over the remaining two cases. As Mosby said, he’d already ruled three times that the action or inaction of the officers did not rise to the level of criminality, and while her office did not agree, they were required to accept it.

“We do not believe that Freddie Gray killed himself. We stand by the medical examiner’s decision that his death was a homicide,” Mosby said.

But Mosby said they realized that without an independent investigatory agency, and without being able to have a say in whether the case was tried before a jury, among other factors to ensure equality, “We could try this case 100 times, and cases just like this, and we would still come up with the same result.”

Mosby said she learned from the case that the system is in need of reform when it comes to police accountability, and she vowed to continue to fight for a fair and equitable justice system for all as long as she’s in office.

She did not take questions, as there is still current civil litigation against her regarding the case. After her remarks, Richard Shipley, Gray’s stepfather, thanked the prosecutors for their work, but said, “We are very pissed about the outcome.”

The entire press conference is below: