They could also decline to pursue some or all of the charges. On Tuesday afternoon, the panel informed the judge it was deadlocked, and Williams ordered them to continue deliberating.
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ABC2 is working to confirm reports that there will be a new trial for Porter, and its date will be determined tomorrow.
Prosecutors said Porter should have buckled Gray, 25, into the police transport van after his arrest April 12 and radioed for medical help. Gray’s death and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore brought to the fore long simmering tensions in Baltimore and across the nation over socioeconomic disparity and the relationship between law enforcement and the minority communities they serve. He died a week later.
Maryland circuit Judge Barry G. Williams indicated that he expected prosecutors to retry Porter.
Although a mistrial was declared, it does not mean William Porter is off the hook. They deliberated for a total of about 15 hours.
One such rally occurred at the juvenile justice center, where protesters told reporters a 16-year-old named Melvin was being wrongly held. We are hopeful that Mrs. Mosby will retrial Officer Porter as soon as possible, and that his next trial jury will reach a verdict. The U.S. Department of Justice has said it is investigating Gray’s death.
The case was one of several recent high-profile instances in the US where officers have been accused of a wrongful killing while on duty.
William Porter could have faced 25 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter, assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment. That made if all the more hard to show Mr. Porter had acted with callous indifference to Mr. Gray’s life, as the prosecution alleged. Porter, who faces involuntary manslaughter and other charges, might have been particularly useful in the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the van carrying Gray after his arrest, experts say.
The six officers were later indicted on numerous criminal charges, including assault, involuntary manslaughter, and second-degree murder with a depraved heart. “So now, they are in a situation where they have this charged defendant hanging out there, and they can’t force him to testify against these other officers”, CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin said. All six officers involved have pleaded not guilty.
Protester confronts sheriffs in front of courthouse.
The death of Freddie Gray inspired mass protests in Baltimore and around the country, and set off an ongoing period of extreme tumult in the city that has been marked by a sharp uptick in homicides.
Police are standing guard outside Mitchell Courthouse.
Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake appealed for calm following the announcement. He says Gray’s family is not angry and that they want people to remain calm, understand what happened and keep their emotions in check.
“It’s very sad”, she told CNN, “because I think that everybody was very happy that police got indicted, and not to get a conviction is painful”.
Some Baltimoreans in the streets downtown near the courthouse expressed dismay at the hung jury. “They’re not going to eat their own”, he said.
Jurors sent notes asking for an explanation of terms including “evil motive” and “bad faith”, the standards by which they were told to weigh the misconduct charge.
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Prosecutors now must determine whether, and how, to proceed with the case against Mr Porter.
