Officer William Porter is charged with is charged with manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.
Advertisement
Baltimore’s police chief says “the future of the city is at stake” as the first trial in the death of Freddie Gray gets underway.
How Are Potential Jurors Being Selected? Some of the other victims of police crime include Michael Brown from Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner from New York, Tamir Rice from Cleveland Ohio and others.
Gray sustained a severe spinal cord injury while riding in a police van and died a week later.
Protests, some violent, raged through Baltimore after Gray’s death in April.
Julie MacGregor, of Baltimore, leads a small protest outside the court house where Officer William Porter is on trial in Baltimore, Maryland, November 30, 2015. West died in police custody in 2013 in Baltimore. Gray repeatedly requested medical attention, and Mosby found these requests were denied by multiple officers.
The judge in charge of the case is interviewing potential jurors as protesters gather outside the courtroom to observe the proceedings. The Baltimore Sun, relying on a source close to the investigation, has reported that Porter also told investigators that while he informed the van’s driver, he also questioned whether Gray could be faking. His attorneys have cited another portion of Porter’s statement, in which he said he recognized Gray “from the neighborhood”, and that it was “always a big scene whenever you attempted to arrest Freddie Gray”.
Prosecutors have said they want Porter to testify first so they can use him as a potential witness against Goodson and Sergeant Alicia White. In a story from April 2000 headlined “Police Silences Can Be Broken, Experts Say”, the Washington Post closed with a quote from Mitchell’s grandson.
Faith in the justice system remains low in the community, however. “Justice is based on proof or not proof, and only the jury is going to be in a position to know whether the case was proved or not proved”.
The jury pool of more than 70 people can be characterized as a reflection of Baltimore’s population; majority black and multi-generational.
On Monday, the broad-shouldered, round-cheeked Porter sat with his attorneys, wearing a dark blue suit and yellow tie. Three of the six officers, including Porter, are black, and three are white. In Porter’s case, Williams has ruled that each side will have a limited number of challenges, or strikes, which can be used to eliminate someone for nearly any reason. There were about a dozen protesters outside the Baltimore Circuit courthouse Monday during jury selection, and their chants calling to “Shut this city down!” could be heard from inside court.
Potential jurors were asked whether they had heard about the case, and everyone acknowledged that they had. They held signs that said “Stop Racism Now!” and “Baltimore Stands with Minneapolis & Chicago!” People rallied outside the courthouse and later marched to the Inner Harbor, then past Baltimore’s World Trade Center office tower and the National Aquarium and on to City Hall.
Advertisement
Officers arrested Gray on April 12 after police said he fled “unprovoked” when he made eye contact with officers.
