Hung jury in Baltimore police brutality case

The judge declared a hung jury this afternoon in Baltimore police officer William Porter’s trial in the death of Freddie Gray. After hearing evidence in the case for two weeks, the jury began deliberations Monday afternoon and continued all day yesterday and into today. But they could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the four charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, or misconduct in office.

Attorneys will meet tomorrow to schedule a date for a new trial for Porter, the first of six officers to be tried on charges related to Gray’s death. Gray was arrested in April while fleeing police in his neighborhood and placed into the back of a police van with his wrists and ankles cuffed. He broke his neck during a 45-minute ride around West Baltimore and died a week later.

Prosecutors said Porter caused Gray’s death by refusing to buckle him into the van or call for medical assistance. The officer’s defense team said there was no evidence he was responsible for Gray’s injuries and the prosecution’s case was based on emotion and fear.

The jury included four black women, three black men, three white women, and two white men. Before deliberations began, the Gray family’s lawyer told The Baltimore Sun that Gray’s relatives had faith in the jury.

“We should be in favor of a fair trial,” William H. Murphy Jr. said. “When you have a jury who is representative of the community, they speak for us.”

Baltimore braced for public reaction to the verdict in light of the riots that broke out in the city the day of Gray’s funeral. On Monday, Baltimore City Schools sent a letter home with students asking parents to help prepare their teens “to act responsibly and safely in the event that disorders occur.” The district was doing everything it could to ensure students’ safety, CEO Gregory Thornton wrote.

Porter’s lawyers used the communication from schools to argue for a mistrial, saying the letter could have influenced jurors whose children brought home the letters. Lawyers repeatedly argued throughout the proceedings that Porter could not get a fair trial in Baltimore. Though jurors were instructed to avoid news accounts and outside information about the case, they were not sequestered during the trial. Judge Barry G. Williams denied the mistrial motion, saying he had confidence the jurors would not to be swayed by facts not presented during the trial. Prosecutors said they wanted to try Porter first because they wanted him as a witness in some of the other trials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.