Porter is the first of six officers to be tried in connection to Gray’s death, which occurred seven months ago after suffering a spine injury in police custody.
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The city agreed in September to pay $6.4m to the family of Mr Gray in a wrongful death settlement.
Eager to avoid the growing public backlash over what some see as legal foot-dragging in cases involving deadly police shootings, officials in Baltimore moved much more aggressively after Freddie Gray died of injuries apparently sustained in the back of a police van.
Demonstrations were initially peaceful following the young black man’s death on April 19, a week after his arrest. Six officers are charged in his death. “Two seconds? Three seconds?”
The case is one of several that led to protests around the US and increased scrutiny of police treatment of minorities.
The five other officers face separate trials on charges ranging from misconduct to second-degree murder.
Officer William Porter is charged with manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.
Porter faces a maximum penalty of about 25 years.
After they got the case, jurors sent back some questions.
Bledsoe played tape of initial interviews to contradict this.
Jurors also asked for definitions of terms from jury instructions.
Earlier Monday, prosecutors described Porter as indifferent to Gray’s safety, repeatedly denying him medical care in the police wagon where his neck was broken after he was left handcuffed and shackled but unbuckled, making Gray vulnerable to being bounced around inside the metal compartment.
“Whatever the verdict, we need everyone in our city to respect the judicial process”, Rawlings-Blake 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”.
‘We need everyone visiting our city to respect Baltimore’. Officers will be scheduled to work 12-hour shifts instead of the usual 10 hours. “How long does it take to click a seatbelt and click a radio and ask for a medic?”
“Is two, three, four seconds worth a human life?” “That’s all it would have taken”.
Defence lawyer Joseph Murtha said that medical experts for both sides had disputed at what point Gray suffered his injury.
Then, it was the defense’s turn. He told jurors – the state wants you to reach a conclusion based on ‘speculation and conjecture. Murtha repeatedly told the jury that Porter’s actions on the morning of April 12 were reasonable by department standards and in accordance with Baltimore police practice.
He also argued credibility was not an issue in the case and that the state didn’t prove Porter acted unreasonably.
“He went beyond what he could have and still kept within the policy”, Reynolds testified.
“With great power comes great responsibility”, she said, accusing Porter and his colleagues of transforming the police van into “a coffin on wheels”.
A jury has started deliberations in the first trial of a Baltimore police officer charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. He died a week later.
Gray’s death sparked protest and rioting. Numerous recommendations have already been implemented.
Porter and other witnesses testified that it was the responsibility of the wagon driver, Caesar Goodson, to buckle Gray into the seat belt.
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Bledsoe told the jury there’s no reason not to put a seat belt on someone in the police wagon. Officers could not be expected to call for medical assistance every time a detainee wanted help, he said. When the van finally arrived at the police station, Gray was unresponsive.
