Protesters in the streets at this hour after a mistrial was declared in the first trial, the first officer charged after the death of Freddie gray.
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Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren confronted the attorney for Freddie Gray’s family tonight for touting the mistrial earlier today as a good thing for the prosecution.
Protesters call for more police oversight in the same location of a burned out CVS that rioters torched during spring protests stemming from Gray’s death.
Police emphasized that the incident was completely unrelated and had nothing to do with the Freddie Gray protests.
Judge Barry Williams declared a mistrial – something which is rare in U.S. courts – after the jury of 5 men and 7 women was hung following two days of deliberations.
A crowd gathered near Baltimore City Hall, according to reports on social media.
Deputies put his arms behind his back and marched him into the courthouse.
“I think everyone in Baltimore wanted a conviction”, said Westley West, the pastor of the Faith Empowered Ministries Church, who is black.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and the new police commissioner she installed after last April’s riots warned people against more violence.
A protester was taken into custody outside the courthouse where the Freddie Gray case was heard, reportedly for using a bullhorn that disturbed the peace. “We are calm. You should be calm, too”.
Porter is the first of six officers to be tried in Gray’s death from a broken neck sustained in the back of a police van. “We have relocated some detainees at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center”, Communications Director Robert Thomas said. Tonight, gray’s family urging calm after the jury of seven blacks and five whites telling the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.
Prosecutors must now decide whether to try Porter again.
Mr Porter is also black, as are two of the other five officers charged. The charges against the other officers range from second-degree murder for the van’s driver, to misconduct.
The defense said Porter went beyond the call of duty when he moved Gray to a seated position at one point, and told the van driver and a supervisor that Gray had said “yes” when asked if he needed to go to a hospital.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Porter was criminally negligent in failing to seat-belt Gray during transport, as required by a recently instituted department policy, or call for a medic when Gray requested one. He died a week later.
“When Officer Porter began this journey through the judicial process, we asked that everyone allow him his day in court as is promised to all citizens”.
“There is an absolute absence of evidence that officer Porter acted in an unreasonable manner”, he said.
Warren Brown, a Baltimore defense lawyer who was in the courtroom, said he was not surprised by Wednesday’s decision. “I think you will have the same scenario with the other trials”.
But prosecutors now have major strategic decisions to make, Toobin said, like whether to keep prosecuting Porter or offer him immunity.
The jury could not reach a consensus after deliberating for three days.
Odessa Rose, a 49-year-old Maryland state employee, also said she was not surprised by the outcome.
“I don’t buy the nonsense that this is somehow a victory for either side”.
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One of those arrested was Kwame Rose, 21, a prominent Baltimore activist whose full name is Darius Kwame Rosebaugh; the other was a 16-year-old boy whom officials did not identify.
