The trial of the first Baltimore police (USA.) Accused of the death of the young Afro Freddie Gray was declared void today by the inability of the jury to reach a verdict, prompting protests from civil rights activists.
EFE
The police officer William G. Porter, 26, was being tried for murder, second-degree assault, negligence and misconduct, but now the judicial process must be restarted on a new date.
Porter was the first of six police officers accused of the death of Gray, who died after a transfer in a police van in April and whose death sparked protests throughout the city for several days with hundreds of detainees.
On Thursday, the judge must choose a new date for another trial.
Gray, who was 25 when he died, was arrested without having committed any crime and suffered broken neck after being transported in a police van from one of the most deprived districts of the city of Baltimore (Maryland).
His death sparked protests of police brutality in the city and across the country.
After learning of the suspension of the trial, the Baltimore Police fanned out across the city to avoid protests and riots, while community leaders appealed for calm and protest peacefully.
This cancellation could affect strategy and prosecution of five other policemen, who had planned to sit on the dock next year.
For Porter, the prosecution tried to prove with medical experts and the police acted negligently by failing to ensure the detainee in his seat, and subsequently denied medical assistance requested.
For its part, the defense argued that the police acted reasonably and Gray's injuries were caused by an accident that Porter could not prevent.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for hours before reporting the failure to reach a unanimous agreement, which favors the defense strategy that had demanded the suspension of judgment and transfer to a court another city.