Bernie Kerik: Charges Don't Match Up In Freddie Gray Case

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told CNN Sunday that he just doesn't see how there can be a murder charge in connection with the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

"A murder charge? There has to be intent," Kerik told "State of the Union" host Michael Smerconish. "I think there is still a lot of information that we don't have. When I listened to the charges personally, I don't think [the] charges meet what I have seen."

He further questioned if the six police officers charged in the case were aware of orders or given training on orders to strap a prisoner like Gray into a seat in a police van.

"There is a whole bunch of stuff that has to happen when an order goes out," said Kerik. "Number two, calling for medical service, if he was asking for medical assistance, medical assistance should have been called."

But as far as video footage that showed Gray's body appearing to be limp as he was loaded into the police van, Kerik said that is a tactic that suspects often use while being arrested.

"One, they fall, and they go limp, so you can let them loose, and then they run,' he said. "They are calling for, they can't breathe, the whole I can't breathe thing, 50, 60, 70 percent of the time, they said 'I can't breathe,' you let them loose and they bolt. I'm not saying that's the case, but that happens, it does happen all the time, and the cops are used to it."

Kerik also touched on the ongoing discussion over the nation's justice system, particularly when it comes to mandatory sentencing for non-violent offenses.

"I was in federal prison and we realized we are putting thousands upon thousands of people in prison for first-time nonviolent offenses," said Kerik, who served time for tax fraud and making false statements. "It's destroying communities and families, and people have to be held accountable for their actions and there is ways to do that without creating a permanent underclass in society."

For someone with a low-level minor drug offense, "it could be a misdemeanor [with] community service or probation, or give them a second chance," Kerik said. "In the federal system, that kid gets 10 or 15 years, and you monsterize them and turn them into a thug."

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