Freddie Gray’s Stepfather: ‘We Are Not at All Upset…’

Gary Proctor, one of Porter’s attorneys, said in court – without the jury present – that the judge has been “very diligent” in reminding jurors not to read news accounts or seek information about the case outside of what they heard during the trial. They also have suggested that he might have deliberately injured himself. The police department canceled leave for all officers this week while Rawlings-Blake opened an emergency operations center and pleaded for calm.

In Gray’s neighborhood, Sandtown, the streets were quiet, with few extra officers on patrol.

Gov. Larry Hogan recently told city leaders that Maryland was “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst”, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings held a press conference pleading for peace and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who seemed to be anticipating a backlash, issued a statement imploring his officers to defy the public’s dismal expectations of their agency.

“Mistrial?” said Tavon Haikns, 22.

“They didn’t offer him immunity. They don’t care about us”.

In addition, the Justice Department is close to an agreement with the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, to bring sweeping changes to the agency, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

“Justice is not a verdict”, the mayor said. “If some choose to demonstrate to express their opinion, that is their right, and we respect that right, and we will fight to protect it. But all of us today agree that the unrest from last spring is not acceptable”.

Yet Murphy, the Gray family’s attorney, stressed that the hung jury doesn’t mean Porter’s own case is closed.

Caesar R. Goodson Jr.is charged with one count of second-degree depraved-heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, manslaughter by vehicle (gross negligence), manslaughter by vehicle (criminal negligence), misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

One protestor tried to calm another Wednesday following the announcement of a hung jury in the trial of Officer Porter.

The situation delays closure for an anxious city, and is unfortunate for both sides, said Steve Levin, a Baltimore defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.

A legal expert says the state’s evidence against Baltimore police Officer William Porter was so strong that he should consider a plea deal. Of a new trial, he said: “It’s a do-over – with a preview of the evidence”. The defense said Porter went beyond the call of duty in helping the handcuffed and shackled prisoner move from the floor of the van to a bench in the wagon, and in telling the van driver and a supervisor that Gray said he needed to go to a hospital.

All six officers have been suspended.

Protesters took to the streets of Baltimore on Wednesday evening after a court declared a mistrial for a police officer charged in connection with Freddie Gray’s death. Seven of the 12 jurors were black. As a result, the judge declared a mistrial.

Freddie Gray’s spine was not severed on April 11. Rose was arrested minutes later, after officials ordered the crowd to disperse because it was “an unlawful assembly”.

“I think everyone in Baltimore wanted a conviction”, said Westley West, the pastor of the Faith Empowered Ministries Church, who is black.

“This hung jury is, really, I think, a major setback for the state because they have neither option available”. “That’s important. The prosecution resonated with the jury in some capacity – and that is undeniable”. The jury sent a note to the judge that they were deadlocked.

The jurors have made several requests since they began deliberating Monday. But after a jury deadlocked in the first trial, legal analysts say prosecutors face hard strategic decisions.

Charles Mason III collects musical instrument cases that represent coffins containing the remains of victims of police violence outside of Baltimore City Hall, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Baltimore. At one point during the trial, his mother, Gloria Darden, left in tears.

We are not at all upset with them and neither should the public be upset.