Huh.
What happens now? When can my righteous anger either be vindicated or spill over into the streets of Baltimore?
Can anyone familiar with criminal justice comment as to whether this kind of request is usual? If so, would there be a good reason to deny it?
Spoiler alert. The officers involved will be acquitted. While i think something shady definitely happened, there’s just not enough concrete evidence. There’s other cases where more clear evidence was presented and the officers still walked, these days you never know of course but i get the distinct impression that there’s just not enough to get a conviction.
Also only 3 days for a murder trial. Did the judge have somewhere else to be?
Was Gray even charged with anything? The police handling seems more suspicious if they didn’t have a cause to arrest him in the first place.
My understanding of this case is that Porter was basically the litmus test to see if the other officers could be convicted. It’s pretty clear from the testimony that Porter’s involvement in Gray’s arrest was minimal and he was neither driving the van or directly responsible for the passengers in the back. Something mysterious definitely happened after that “fourth stop” where Gray was not noticeably injured and the station where they found him unconscious.
It doesn’t surprise me that Porter’s case would end in mistrial as he seemed to be the least involved. What’s more interesting to see if the prosecution continues to pursue trials for the other cops now.
Three days of deliberations.
Yeah, I meant 3 days of deliberations, for some body’s life it seems an awful short time.
They did charge him, for having a switchblade that may or may not have been legal, but they only found the switchblade after the already chased and jumped on his with no probably cause.
There’s a timeline of events here:
8:39:12 a.m.
Initial Contact
Lt. Brian W. Rice and Officers Edward M. Nero and Garrett E. Miller were on bike patrol near the corner of North Avenue and Mount Street. Lieutenant Rice made eye contact with Mr. Gray, who ran away.
8:39:52 a.m.
Mr. Gray surrendered to Officers Miller and Nero in the 1700 block of Presbury Street. “I got him,” one officer stated
8:40 a.m.
Inhaler Requested
Ms. Mosby said the officers handcuffed Mr. Gray and placed him face down. Mr. Gray said he could not breathe and requested an inhaler, but does not receive one, Ms. Mosby said.
Illegal Arrest Alleged
Officers Miller and Nero put Mr. Gray in a seated position and find a folding knife, which Ms. Mosby said was legal under Maryland law. The officers charged Mr. Gray with illegal possession of a switchblade. The officers then placed Mr. Gray down on his stomach and restrained him until the police van arrived. Ms. Mosby said Lieutenant Rice and Officers Miller and Nero “failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray’s arrest as no crime had been committed.”
If you’ve ever served on a jury it’s actually a pretty long time. There are breaks where the jury goes into the back and has fifteen minutes here and there with time to mull things over before you even talk to any of the other jurors. Most of the time people are pretty confident in their decision when they walk through the jury room door based on what they heard. To then literally have a three day meeting with the same twelve people rehashing the same testimony and repeating how they see things is a fairly long 24 hours, especially as it’s usually only about four of five of them doing most of the talking.
And, frankly, it’s a lot more time than Mr. Gray received.
I don’t quite understand how he’s the “litmus test” if his is the weakest case. I mean, a conviction would mean the others should be convicted, but not visa versa.
I’m also confused that apprently they thought it was their strongest case:
From the timeline here, I agree with you that, while he seems incredibly culpable, the case against him is probably the weakest.
Agreed. But this way the protests can be put off until after Christmas.
Justice is served, to whom is the question…
Not sure about the “litmus test” thing either…I suspected that the State would try its weakest case first in the hopes that it would end in acquittal, thus sending the message “Nothing to see here, show’s over, move along…” to the next jury–if there is one.
Plus, remember that it wasn’t “just three days” in reaching a verdict, it was three days of arguing which it took for them to realize that they were never going to agree or convince the holdouts one way or another, which is a lot less outrageous than if the cops were just acquitted after a short deliberation.
If the good jurors threw up their hands at some hardline, stonewalling “I won’t find cops guilty no matter what” types that they had to gain the cooperation of to arrive at a verdict, it may have just been clear that no amount of further futile back-and-forth was going to be productive. We can’t really say for sure that they were wrong for that reaction.
At least a mistrial doesn’t represent the kind of exoneration that an acquittal would in the public mind.
Meaning it’s over, or another trial will be held?
That’s up to the prosecutors. They could try him again, or just drop the case if they think the result will be the same.
It’s time to de-fund under-performing police officers and their departments.
Let’s bring the radical accountability often used against educators to those that are actually killing citizens.
#NoPersonDiesInCustody
I’m pretty sure Mr. Gray’s severed spine and death are concrete evidence.
