William Porter, right, one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection to the death of Freddie Gray, walks into a courthouse with his attorney Joseph Murtha for jury selection in his trial, Monday, Nov. 30, …
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Jury selection for Porter’s trial started on Monday, Nov. 30. Jury selection begins today for the trial of William G. Porter, charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
Prosecutors say Gray had suffered a spinal cord injury as he was being driven in a police van to the Western District precinct.
Porter’s case is critical as he may be called as a witness in the other officers’ trials. Gray was unarmed and was never charged with a crime but he died from his injuries a week later, sparking mass protests and a night of riots.
Porter, like the other officers, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Porter is black. Two other officers are black and the three others are white.
The judge said a jury will be seated in the next day or two. During that time, he reportedly did not buckle Gray into the van and failed to get him the medical attention that he required. But perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the power vacuum created in the aftermath of the Freddie Gray case are Marilyn Mosby, the young state’s attorney who assumed office in January and charged the officers in May, and her husband, councilman Nick Mosby, who declared his mayoral bid after Rawlings-Blake bowed out.
Baltimore’s economic development agency says 93 percent of the businesses damaged by rioting, looting and arson in April have reopened.
Without an incumbent in the mayoral race, there are beneficiaries, including former mayor Sheila Dixon, who was forced to resign after being convicted of embezzling $500 in gift cards for poor children. Porter doesn’t appear in the videos, but the prosecution believes they are relevant to the case showing Gray’s initial injuries. 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 Porter could be faking.
Gray was placed in a transport van in West Baltimore in shackles and handcuffs.
An independent review of the police response to the rioting revealed “major shortcomings”, and painted a portrait of an overwhelmed and under-prepared department.
Davis stepped in as police chief in July amid a crime spike that saw 45 homicides in a single month – a 43-year high. Hours before Police Commissioner Anthony Batts was sacked in July, the police union issued its own scathing report, and its president called for Batts to “step up”.
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The Justice Department is conducting a probe into the department stemming from allegations that officers hassled people and used excessive force. Prosecutors also will have to show that a reasonable person would have tried to get Gray medical aid and that Porter failed to do so.
