Activist Tariq Touré (who has contributed poetry to City Paper) said the heightened police presence, and particularly the presence of heavy equipment and officers in riot gear, will have a negative impact on Baltimore’s young people, and will not make the city substantively safer.
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After announcing a deadlock nine hours into deliberations, a Baltimore jury is resuming its work in the trial of William Porter, one of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. They are deliberating in the trial of Officer William Porter, the first of six officers to stand trial on charges stemming from the death of Freddie Gray in April.
Gilliam-Price anticipates one of two possible responses if Porter is acquitted of all charges: Given that there are a total of six trials, some Baltimoreans may not be concerned with a not-guilty verdict for Porter given the possibility of a different outcome for the other officers. When police later checked on their prisoner, he was in a coma with a severed spine, investigators found.
Porter faces second-degree assault, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office charges.
“If there is a mistrial as a result of the jurors’ inability to reach a unanimous decision, then Officer Porter would retain that Fifth Amendment right to refuse to testify”, said Warren S. Alperstein, a defense lawyer and a former prosecutor.
The case is one of several in recent months casting a harsh national spotlight on race and police brutality in the United States.
For convictions on some or all of the first three charges, he would face no more than 10 years in prison combined. He instructed them to continue deliberating, which they did for another two hours before breaking for the day. Goodson, a black officer who is the lead defendant in the indictment, is charged with the most serious offense – second-degree murder with a depraved heart.
Demonstrations were initially peaceful following Gray’s death. If they can not, Williams will be forced to declare a mistrial on the undecided counts, leaving it to prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case. “It’s got Gray’s blood on it”, she said.
The mayor says business should continue as usual and people must respect the jury’s decision in Officer William Porter’s trial.
Porter’s trial is beginning its third week. Court was set to start at 9 a.m. Monday. Prosecutors say Porter is partially responsible for not buckling Gray into a seat belt and for not calling for an ambulance when Gray indicated he needed aid.
Porter conceded that Gray asked for medical help during stop four, but said he did not call a medic because Gray didn’t appear to be injured and didn’t articulate what was wrong.
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Gray’s death sparked protest and rioting.
