Mistrial in US Freddie Gray case

Immediately after a Baltimore City jury could not reach a decision in the trial of Officer William G. Porter on four charges related to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a group of protestors slowly grew outside the courthouse. Police officers lined the streets.

GWEN IFILL: NewsHour’s William Brangham has been in Baltimore throughout the day today.

After Gray’s funeral in late April, violence escalated into riots around parts of the city.

Meanwhile, during deliberations on Wednesday, a handful of protesters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “send those killer cops to jail”.

Legal experts told The New York Times this month that the verdict in Porter’s case could possibly set the tone for the trials of the five other officers.

Reading from a statement, Richard Shipley, Gray’s stepfather, told CNN he is hopeful Porter will be retried. We are hopeful that Mrs. Mosby will retrial Officer Porter as soon as possible, and that his next trial jury will reach a verdict. She said city residents must respect the outcome of the judicial process and respect Baltimore neighborhoods.

Courtesy photo of Freddie Gray.

After 16 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury said it could not agree on the involuntary manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct charges against the officer, according to the Baltimore Sun (reg. req.) and the Washington Post (reg. req.).

The jurors resumed deliberating around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, and shortly before lunch asked the judge whether it could receive transcripts of testimony – a request the judge denied, without elaboration. “You have clearly been diligent”.

Hill-Aston added that she expects protests this evening in the city, but hopes no one will do anything that ends up in an arrest.

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

“We know what can happen to people when they get locked up”, she said.

“In the coming days, if some choose to demonstrate peacefully to express their opinion, that is their constitutional right”, the statement reads.

“Everybody needs to remain calm”, he said.

The Baltimore NAACP asked people to control their “frustration and anger” and respect “the rights of all people respected, on all sides”.

“It’s early. This is one of six”.

He said he wanted to see if the jury broke down along racial lines.

An attorney for Gray’s family, Bill Murphy, echoed that sentiment in a press conference, saying: “We are calm, you should be calm”.

“The prosecution had no intention of winning the case due to their relationship the police department”.

“I think the state’s attorney went in there with the intention of losing”, Davis said.

As we reported Tuesday, “Officer Porter, 26, is a two-year veteran of the Baltimore police force”.

Gray died after suffering a broken neck in a police van while handcuffed and shackled. The autopsy concluded that Gray probably suffered the injury from being slammed against the compartment’s metal wall during cornering or braking.

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of an officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, and it’s not yet clear if or when he may face another trial. Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow also accused Porter of a “cover-up” and said the officer lied to investigators in his initial account of the incident.

The defense calls Gray’s death a awful tragedy, but argues there is no evidence to convict Porter and that there is too much of a reasonable doubt.