Skip to main content

Hung Jury: Baltimore Awaits New Trial in Freddie Gray Case

Share This article

A Baltimore judge met with prosecutors and defense attorneys Thursday to discuss a new trial date for a police officer charged with manslaughter in the death of Freddie Gray.

The news comes one day after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of William Porter, one of six officers charged in Gray's death.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors made it clear they were deadlocked over whether Officer Porter had committed any crimes due to actions he didn't take prior to Gray's death.

The hung jury followed three days of deliberations.

Gray, 25, died after suffering a broken neck in a police van while handcuffed and shackled.

The Associate Press reports that prosecutors believe that Porter is partially to blame because he didn't call an ambulance when Gray indicated he needed medical aid.

He also failed to buckle Gray into a seat belt, leaving him handcuffed and shackled but unrestrained in a metal compartment, unable to brace himself when the van turned a corner or braked.

Porter told jurors he didn't think Gray was injured when he checked on him on the floor of the wagon, and helped him onto a bench inside.

Porter also said he didn't buckle Gray in because it wasn't his responsibility; the wagon driver is in charge of making sure the prisoner is strapped in while the van is moving.

There have been peaceful protests following the mistrial.

Share This article

About The Author

CBN
News

CBN News is a national/international, nonprofit news organization that provides programming 24 hours a day by cable, satellite and the Internet. Staffed by a group of acclaimed news professionals, CBN News delivers stories to over a million viewers each day without a specific agenda. With its headquarters in Virginia Beach, Va., CBN News has bureaus in Washington D.C., Jerusalem, and elsewhere around the world. What began as a segment on CBN's flagship program, The 700 Club, in the early 1980s, CBN News has since expanded into a multimedia news organization that offers today's news headlines