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.

The panel had informed the judge on Tuesday that it was deadlocked, and Judge Barry G. Williams ordered them to continue deliberations.

Porter, 26, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. He is the first of six police officers to stand trial in the death of Freddie Gray.

Attorneys will appear in court in front of an administratve judge Thursday to pick a retrial date. Porter is not expected to attend.

Gray, 25, suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury in the back of a police transport van after his arrest on April 12. His death a week later prompted widespread protests against police brutality, and his funeral was followed by the most intense rioting and looting in the city since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby charged Porter and five other officers in Gray’s arrest and death on May 1, and many have watched the proceedings in Porter’s trial closely.

Now that a mistrial has been declared, it is up to prosecutors to decide whether to put Porter on trial again. In making that decision, prosecutors must weigh their chances of securing a conviction in a subsequent trial, said J. Amy Dillard, associate processor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.