Aides to Gov. Larry Hogan said the National Guard can be put on alert and begin preparations without Hogan declaring a state of emergency, but they can not be deployed until he does so.

The guard was similarly put on call a year ago in advance of what became rioting and looting on the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral. -- Erin Cox

Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon called the verdict "devastating."

"Quite frankly, it's heartbreaking," he said outside the courthouse. "I actually am fighting back tears today."

He said many in the community believed that "if there was going to be a conviction, were were expecting it to be with this particular case."

The acquittal sends "a tremendous message" that "black lives really don't matter," he said.

"Working class people, poor people, people of color in particular, it's sending a message that their lives don't matter," he said. -- Alison Knezevich

After prosecutors suffered a crushing defeat Thursday in the trial of Baltimore Police Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., legal analysts say, their chances of securing a conviction against any of the police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray look increasingly dim.

Officer Goodson acquittal spells trouble for cases against other police officers

Baltimore Sen. Joan Carter Conway, a Democrat, said the Freddie Gray case exposed a pattern at the Baltimore Police Department and the $6.4 million settlement in the civil suit showed “it’s obvious that something occurred.”

She said that while prosecutors may not have met the higher burden of proof in the criminal case, the city’s willingness to pay out millions in a civil case suggests the officers were responsible for Gray’s death.  Regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges, “it blew out across the country and exposed the aggressive abuses of police officers.”

Several political and legal observers have suggested State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby should reconsider going to trial with the other officers charged in the case after Judge Barry G. Williams acquitted the officer charged with the most serious offenses, but Conway defended Mosby’s decision to swiftly file charges among the unrest last year.

"Just based on the occurrence of the death, the number of cases of police brutality Baltimore City alone has had, and based on the current climate in terms the evidence that was originally collected,” Conway said, “in light of all the rebellion and the fires and the destruction in the city, the prosecutor made the right decision to charge. “

Conway said that it was hard to prove who was directly responsible for Gray’s death because so many officers were involved in his arrest and transport.  The case, she said, has already brought about cameras in the back of police vans, police discipline reforms and renewed focus on transporting prisoners.

“That's our judicial system. ... many of us might be disappointed that no one was convicted, but you have to have the evidence,” Conway said. She had this message for her frustrated constituents:  “Justice is what they asked for. They (the officers) were tried.” -- Erin Cox