Judge Barry Williams of the Baltimore City Circuit Court has
declared a mistrial in the Freddie Gray case after the jury in the trial of
William Porter deadlocked Wednesday.
Porter is one of six Baltimore City Police officers facing charges after
detainee Freddie Gray suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody in
April, which led to his death days later.
Porter was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault,
reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.
The Baltimore City State’s Attorney chose to try Officer Porter first as
he is a material witness in the trials of the other five officers. If the other trials took place before Officer
Porter’s trial, he would be able to plead the fifth and refuse to testify in
the trials of the other officers.
The
jury was unable to agree on any of the four charges on which they deliberated
in Porter’s case. In Maryland, a verdict
in a criminal case must be unanimous. If
even one juror disagrees with the majority’s opinion, the jury will be considered
deadlocked and a mistrial will be declared.
The Office of the State’s Attorney will decide whether it will retry
Officer Porter or simply move on with the remaining cases. If the State’s Attorney decides to retry
Officer Porter, the other trials may have to be postponed awaiting a
resolution. As of now, the next trial
set to go forward is that of Officer Cesar Goodson, scheduled for January 6,
2016. Officer Goodson was the driver of
the van in which Freddie Gray was detained, and he faces the most serious
charges of all the officers involved, including second-degree “depraved heart”
murder.
Unlike
most criminal cases, the charges against the officers involved in the Gray case
require proof that the officers failed to do something, in this case, obtain medical attention for Gray, and that the failure to
act amounts to a criminal omission. Proving
a crime of omission is notoriously difficult, and many are not surprised that
the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision on the charges facing
Officer Porter. When news of Gray’s
death reached the public in April, the City of Baltimore erupted in protests, some
of which became violent. Baltimore’s
Police Commissioner has canceled all leave for officers through the end of the
week as the city stands on alert pending further developments.
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