Story highlights Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she wants to focus on Baltimore's recovery

Rawlings-Blake: "The city is in a very critical time right now"

(CNN) Embattled Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Friday that she will not seek re-election, saying a political campaign would take time away from the city's ability to cope with a police brutality scandal.

"The last thing I want is for every one of the decisions I make ... to be questioned in the context of a political campaign," she told reporters.

The announcement came one day after a judge ruled that trials of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, 25, will remain in the city.

The officers are charged in Gray's death, which authorities say came after he suffered a fatal spinal injury while being transported in a police van in April.

"It was a very difficult decision but I knew I needed to spend time, the remaining 15 months of my term, focused on the city's future and not my own," Rawlings-Blake said at a City Hall news conference.

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