FREDDIE GRAY Death CASE UPDATE: MISTRIAL
The Freddie Gray Death Cases of Justice gets off to a Rocky Start yall!
The first officer tried in the Freddie Gray death case, William Porter, ends in a mistrial after only 3 days of deliberation. Seven of the jurors were black, and five are white so it was not a race thing, but more to do with the charges placed against him may not have fit for this particular defendant.
Although officer William Porter was present, based on the testimony I read it really does appear that the charges they gave for his participation did not fit.
Officer Porter faced a slew of charges in the Freddie Gray Death Case, including involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office.
Porter, who was a backup officer, testified Gray told him he needed medical aid. Porter told the van’s driver and a supervisor that Gray had asked for aid but none was summoned, according to testimony.
The defense argued that Porter did not believe Gray was seriously injured until the van’s final stop.
His lawyers have said that Porter acted as any reasonable officer would have.
When you look at the video tapes, you can clearly see that Freddie Gray was injured BEFORE he entered into the van and was complaining BEFORE he entered into the van. Mr. Porter was a back up officer and his testimony was that he told the driver and others in the van that Mr. Gray was asking for medical attention, while I agree that they should have looked at reckless endangerment and misconduct in office as an option and I don’t understand why the judge did not hold them to deliberate a little longer, three days–chile pleeze!
Meanwhile,
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake urged people to remain calm over the ruling. “We must respect the outcome of the judicial process,” she said in a statement.
Officials in Baltimore had come under heavy criticism for a restrained initial response to April’s riots, which some observers contended allowed arson and looting to spiral out of control.
“I urge everyone to remember that collectively, our reaction needs to be one of respect for our neighborhoods,” Rawlings-Blake said. “In the case of any disturbance in the city we are prepared to respond.”
Large numbers of police had been stationed around the city over the past days. Within minutes of the judge’s ruling, a phalanx of uniformed officers surrounded the courthouse, pushing a group of a few dozen protesters back and arresting at least one man.
The charges against the other officers range from second-degree murder for the van’s driver, to misconduct.
One legal expert said he was surprised to see a mistrial declared on just the third day of deliberations.
“I thought the judge would never declare a mistrial absent a fistfight until the jury had been deliberating for six or seven days,” said Jim Cohen, a professor at Fordham Law School in New York. “They chose the wrong defendant to try first.”
SOURCE: Reuters
