Freddie Gray Trial: Jury Deadlocked, 1st Day Ends Without Verdict

On Wednesday, a hung jury led the Baltimore judge presiding over the case of the first police officer to face trial in relation to the April death of Freddie Gray to declare a mistrial on all charges.

Baltimore police officer William Porter stood trial for involuntary manslaughter in the case of Freddie Gray.

Gray’s death triggered protests, rioting and arson in the majority-black city of 620,000 people, and intensified a US debate on police treatment of minorities.

“Up a creek”, he said Wednesday, shortly after a judge declared a mistrial in Porter’s case because jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. By that time, the jury had deliberated for almost 14 hours of deliberations over three days.

State Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby has alleged that the officers were engaging in “rough-riding”, a form of police brutality where officers drive recklessly with in a handcuffed suspect who is otherwise not properly secured in the back of a police vehicle.

Gray was arrested and loaded into the back of a police van with his wrists and ankles shackled, but not strapped in with a safety belt.

Porter was one of six officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.

Porter is the first of six officers to be tried in Freddie Gray’s death from a neck injury sustained while in police custody.

Baltimore’s mayor said the city was prepared for the protesters.

In his only public comments since the trial began, Porter said in an interview Wednesday that “it’s not over yet” and declined to comment further.

The case hinged not on what Porter did, but what prosecutors said he didn’t do.

Attorney Billy Murphy, who obtained a $6.4 million settlement for Gray’s family from the city before Porter’s trial, called the mistrial “a temporary bump on the road to justice”. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to meet Thursday with Justice Department investigators looking into the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a police officer past year. Later, a cellphone video surfaced showing him screaming as he was dragged into the police van.

“Hung juries are not unusual”.

Some demonstrators chanted “We will fight for Freddie Gray, all night, all day”, while carrying signs. Charges against the other officers range from second-degree murder for the van’s driver, to misconduct.

In June, a SC jury couldn’t reach a verdict in the retrial of former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs, who is white.

Authorities say Porter was not involved until he arrived to look for a possible second suspect and help with crowd control while Gray was put into the van. “Gag order”, Mosby said, smiling and shaking her head inside the courthouse. Defense lawyers said Porter was not to blame for Gray’s death. Prosecutors had planned to use Porter’s testimony against two of his fellow officers.

Erika Alston, a West Baltimore community leader who founded Kids Safe Zone after the April riots, said she felt there was reasonable doubt that Porter committed manslaughter, but “it’s early”.