New Trial Date Set For Officer Porter In Freddie Gray's Death
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There are new developments in the case of Officer William Porter: he will get a new trial. Porter was the first of six officers to face a jury in the death of Freddie Gray, but that ended in a mistrial last week.
Investigator Mike Hellgren has more on what this means for Porter---and the other officers, whose trials are set to begin soon.
Prosecutors will re-try Officer William Porter. The court announced the decision less than a week after jurors hung in his first trial, resulting in protests for justice outside the courthouse.
The decision follows a push from Freddie Gray's family for a re-trial.
"The mood of this city is they're going to be patient and they're going to wait for a resolution of this case and that they want to see justice done," said their attorney, Billy Murphy.
Porter's trial is now scheduled to start June 13, after the trials for the other five officers.
"The state has given no indication that it is anything but sort of willing to just go full speed ahead on this," said legal analyst Andy Levy.
Van driver Office Caesar Goodson Jr. is still going next on January 6. Goodson faces the most serious charge of all of the officers: second degree depraved heart murder.
But the new dates also complicate matters because Porter was expected to be a material witness in Goodson's trial.
Some following the case thought prosecutors would strike an immunity deal with Porter to strengthen the case against Goodson.
Porter's defense repeatedly blamed Goodson for not taking action to help Gray inside the police van.
"If Porter is left in limbo, then they've got a major problem because they can't use him because of the fifth amendment," said legal analyst Dwight Pettit. "He's a major witness."
Porter still faces all the same charges---and publicly, no jurors have come forward to say exactly how they split in their deadlock.
"I think they're going to be faced with the same type of situation in each one of these cases," said legal analyst Warren Brown. "I think you're going to have a number of hung juries as you go along."
Stay with WJZ for complete coverage of the Freddie Gray cases and the officers charged in his death. We will continue to update you on the latest developments.
