Paul M. Blair Jr., president of the Fraternal Order of Police said he was "ecstatic" with the Circuit Court jury's verdict.
"It was a senseless murder, a senseless murder," he said yesterday.
"To have worked those years ... dedicated to getting [criminals] off the streets and to be brutally murdered by someone who probably should have been in jail years ago? It was senseless. The system finally caught up, and justice was done," Blair said. "This man will never again endanger anyone in the rest of his life."
Blair praised the jury for discounting the contamination questions. Members "saw right through the defense attorney," he said.
Grimes testified on his own behalf Thursday, saying he was hit by a stray bullet while waiting for a friend to pick him up, contradicting testimony of two earlier witnesses who placed Grimes in the area with a gun. Prosecutors pointed to Chesley's bullet in Grimes' leg as evidence that he was involved in the officer's killing.
The decision to put Grimes on the stand was one of the most difficult of Walker's career, the attorney said.
"He's not an intellectual giant, he's just an inner-city kid," Walker said, acknowledging the inconsistencies in Grimes' statements, which he also said were explainable.
Wearing a yellow button-down shirt, baggy jeans and black sneakers, Grimes' appeared unmoved as officers led him from the courtroom yesterday morning, both his hands and feet in shackles.
"He didn't appear to be stunned at all," Walker said. "I think he may have expected it."
Grimes was followed by Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Wiggins, who prosecuted the case and said he couldn't comment until after sentencing.
Wiggins stood in the hall outside Judge Timothy J. Doory's courtroom as Chesley's family and friends streamed past, stopping to embrace Wiggins or shake his hand.
Kimberly Beasley, Chesley's former girlfriend and the mother of one of his sons, who is now 13, shed tears of relief outside the courtroom.
"I had no doubt what the verdict would be, no doubt," she said, then turned to her cell phone and shouted the news: "He's guilty!"
Chesley, who went by the nickname T-Roy, signed up for the police academy three years after graduating from City College high school in 1990; he was a member of the Baltimore police force for 13 years. During his tenure, he was commended for saving a woman from a burning house and chosen to work in an undercover narcotics unit. He was noted for his skill in dealing with informants.
During his funeral service, Chesley's supervisor described him as a "highly motivated, energetic person" and the "ultimate team player - a partner anyone would be proud to have."
In a letter once written to his mother, Chesley credited her with turning her two boys into "productive men."
"My son was a detective" Joyce Chesley said yesterday. "And he did a good job."
Baltimore Sun reporter Peter Hermann contributed to this article.
