A reader says: The story gives some information but not three pieces of crucial information: It does give the breakdown between women and men on the jury but it fails to (1) give the breakdown of the Jury by race, (2) mention that officer Porter, the first to go to trial is African-American and (3) the jury vote for conviction.
This last is important. If there was one black holdout for conviction, the prosecutor probably won’t retry the case, but if it hung with a majority seeking conviction it probably will. It may be that the court is not disclosing the juror vote for fear of precipitating civil unrest.
Mistrial declared in trial of Officer William Porter in death of Freddie Gray
A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the trial of Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter, after jurors told a judge it could not reach a verdict on any of the four charges against him.
“I do declare a mistrial,” Judge Barry G. Williams announced in a downtown courtroom.
Porter, 26, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. He is the first of six city police officers to stand trial in the death of Freddie Gray.
Attorneys are expected to appear in court Thursday morning in front of an administrative judge to pick a retrial date. Porter is not scheduled to attend.
It’s unclear whether Porter’s retrial will affect the trial dates for the other five officers, who are scheduled to be tried separately and consecutively beginning Jan. 6.
The State’s Attorney’s Office did not comment Wednesday, citing a “gag order that pertains to all cases related to Freddie Gray.”
