After 11 hours of deliberation over two days, the jury in the trial of the first of six Baltimore police officers for the death of Freddie Gray indicated it still had not arrived at a decision on the four charges in the case. The 12-member jury wrote a note to the judge Tuesday afternoon saying they were deadlocked. The jury is considering four charges against Officer William Porter: involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. The jury must come to a unanimous decision on each of the charges and the deadlock sets up the possibility of a mistrial being declared in the case.
Here’s more from the Baltimore Sun:
A judge can declare a mistrial only if a jury insists that it cannot reach a verdict… The jury could reach verdicts on some of the charges but remain deadlocked on others. A conviction or acquittal on one of the charges would stand regardless of whether a mistrial was declared on other charges… If Porter’s case ends in a mistrial, it could have implications for the legal strategies in the cases against the five other officers, who are set to be tried individually next year in similarly complex cases.
The jury is made up of seven black and five white jurors, according to the Washington Post. It will resume its deliberations on Wednesday.
