A judge Thursday morning denied a change-of-venue motion in the trials for six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.Defense attorneys for the officers said that many in the city consider the defendants "poster children" for anger over police in general.Defense attorney Ivan Bates argued that pretrial publicity, riots and the $6.4 million settlement approved Wednesday make finding a fair jury impossible."The question is not whether everybody has heard about it. We hear about a lot of things. It is a question of whether you have formed an opinion," University of Maryland Law School professor Doug Colbert said.The defense said many jurors will feel an impact of potential juror intimidation and feel compelled to convict over fears of riots.Prosecutors argued that the judge should allow jury selection to take place with at least one trial before moving all six trials. Prosecutor Michael Schatzow argued that while there has been plenty of publicity, it hasn't been prejudicial toward officers.Prosecutors pointed out that the Boston Marathon bombing trial and the Montgomery County sniper cases were not moved, and they impacted more people than this case.The hearing comes just a day after the city formally approved a $6.4 million settlement for Gray's family. Prosecutors said officers conceded nothing and admitted nothing from the settlement. Gray was a 25-year-old black man who died after being critically injured while in police custody. Attorneys for the officers have said days of protests and riots, a citywide curfew and other pretrial publicity would taint a jury pool made up of Baltimore residents. Prosecutors believe the trials should be held in the city.Judge rules on change-of-venue motionBaltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams made the decision after both sides made arguments.Williams said the defense did not meet its constitutional burden of proof to move the trials out of Baltimore.He ruled it would be premature to move the officers' trials out of Baltimore without first going through the voir dire process -- used to sort out potential prejudices of jurors every day -- and the trials can't be moved based only on conjecture about potential jurors.Williams was also unconvinced the media or community leaders influenced opinions in Baltimore more than anywhere else."I'm glad the judge made the decision to keep it here in Baltimore. I feel that it is justice for the family and I think the officers will get a fair trial," NAACP Baltimore Branch President Tessa Hill said.Williams said Baltimore citizens are not monolithic people and can make decisions based on facts in the case. He did not completely close the door on moving the trials out of Baltimore if juries can't be seated after voir dire."What the judge really told the people of Baltimore, something I believe too, is that I respect your ability to come to a fair decision in this case," Colbert said. Chief Administrative Judge Michel Pierson would have decided what county the trials would be held in if the motion was granted. Williams has already ruled the officers will be tried separately.The officers were indicted in May and face charges ranging from second-degree assault to second-degree murder.Gray died on April 19, a week after he suffered a critical spinal injury in police custody. His death prompted protests and rioting that shook the city and caused millions of dollars in damage, and has since come to symbolize the broken relationship between the police and the public in Baltimore, and the treatment of black men by police in America.All six officers, including Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, are charged with second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Lt. Brian Rice, Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter also face a manslaughter charge, while Officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charge of all: second-degree "depraved-heart" murder.The officers were not expected to appear in court. Three of the officers are white. Three are black.VIDEO: Protesters rejoice in decisionThe court proceeding attracted protesters. Police said they were prepared for any civil unrest that could crop up. While the numbers of protesters seemed to mirror the number of media outlets covering them, their message was loud."The police force is BPD they committed the crime here they must be held accountable in Baltimore City," said protester Andre, who did not share his last name.While Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis talked to protest organizers behind the scenes, he also showed up on the front lines talking and listening to protesters."There's protesters out here. They're unhappy with the police department, criminal justice system, and I get that, and that's why I'm out here. So I could choose to hide in my office and not hear the citizens, but I choose to be here," Davis said.By 11 a.m. Thursday, word spread quickly that the cases would stay in Baltimore, which brought cheers from those who had gathered."We're causing positive noise, not destructing, out here talking, it came out the way it should have," said protester Briana, who did not share her last name.Elder Cortly C.D. Witherspoon, of the Baltimore People's Power Assembly, who has been leading protests from the beginning, said Thursday's decision was a major victory."I'm rarely speechless, but this is a lot. It motivates us. The course of this," Witherspoon said. Self-described social activist and Baltimore City resident Kwame Rose led some protesters in front of the courthouse. He described his reaction when the decision came down."This was an expectation. We expected the trial to stay here and to be tried here in Baltimore so that these six murderous cops could be convicted by a jury of Baltimore City residents because they murdered a Baltimore City resident," Rose said.Rose said he believes the presence of protesters influenced the judge's decision."In my mind there wasn't doubt because if these were six regular citizens, the trial, the case would not be moved. Because these are officers, the law would be bent in their favor so our presence here as protesters is what happened, what led to the motion for it to be moved to be denied," Rose said.In terms of the settlement, Rose said he believed that for complete justice to be served, convictions must come to fruition."I think the settlement, to be clear, is not a full amount for justice. We as protesters, we as the city of Baltimore still expect a conviction for the six murders that killed Freddie Gray, and that will start to paint a picture of what justice actually looks like," Rose said. "So we've always seen throughout times that Rodney King, he had a civil settlement, right? But what he didn't get was he didn't get the justice he deserves and that the officers that brutally beat him be tried and convicted, and that's when we'll start to see cases like this start to diminish, when officers are convicted and held accountable for their actions."Moving forward, Rose said he expects the protests to continue with the upcoming trials."Now, we've got even more reason to protest," Rose said.Police had a "soft presence" outside the courthouse -- no shields, helmets or riot gear -- but all officers are on-call and ready to respond to any unrest, Davis said."Officers won't be donned in riot gear," Davis said. "That is something we absolutely won't roll out because we don't want to be provocative or draw a line in the sand. But in the event that a peaceful protest goes south, we'll be prepared to appropriately respond to it."WBALTV.com editors Saliqa Khan and Ron Snyder, WBAL-TV 11 News reporters David Collins and Lowell Melser contributed to this report.