Legal expert compares Freddie Gray, Randall Kerrick cases

Another defense lawyer, Victor Del Pino, said that even if the jury had voted 10 to 2 or 11 to 1 to acquit Porter, prosecutors would face enormous pressure to redo the case.

Many who took to the streets protested what they believed to be the peak of police brutality, and many, including Gray’s family, have called for peace.

Porter was also charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

Prisoners were never secured with seat belts during field training, and though cadets were instructed to secure prisoners with seat belts, they were not shown how, Porter said. That’s something we don’t know, yet Reverend Kenji Scott says he, for one, was not shocked by the mistrial.

The primary trial within the demise of Freddie Grey led to a mistrial Wednesday, with jurors saying they could not decide whether or not a Baltimore police was criminally answerable for the person’s dying.

The mistrial could renew criticism that the state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby, overreached in bringing manslaughter and other serious charges against the officers, only a day after police completed their investigation into the death.

Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also asked the public to keep demonstrations peaceful in a press conference yesterday; reports indicate that gatherings generally remained orderly over the past few days. One police officer said, “The protesters have not caused any problems, they have stayed on the sidewalk and have obeyed our orders”.

Some legal analysts have said the deadlocked jury will present hard questions for prosecutors.

“I think you will have the same scenario with the other trials”, Brown said.

Van Susteren, a former trial attorney, was not buying it. “I would be very anxious if I were the prosecutor tonight …”

A protestor confronts deputies from Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office outside the courthouse in Ba …

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with the judge today but gave no word on a new trial.

Ronnie “Church” Brown displays a sign to passing traffic outside of a courthouse during jury deliberations for William Porter, one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Baltimore. Porter has maintained his innocence throughout the case.

David Jaros, an associate law professor at the University of Baltimore, said prosecutors likely still wanted to try Porter first so that he could later testify against Officer Caesar Goodson, the van driver. “It’s not. It’s just a bump on the road to justice, and the road to justice has lots of bumps”.

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”.

As they did in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s death, protesters marched in several parts of Baltimore on Wednesday night. “We will have the assets that we need in place to respond as necessary” should protests in coming days grow surly. Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said he expects results next year.

“We are going to fight for justice until it becomes a reality in our lives”.

The prosecution has argued that Porter’s failure to buckle Gray’s seatbelt before the van pulled away makes him partially responsible for Gray’s death.