Ken Berwitz
After a Baltimore jurydeliberated for more than 16 hoursover three days, a judge declared a mistrialWednesday, potentially upending the prosecution\’s strategy againstthe officers involved in the arrest of Gray,who died April 19 from a severe spinal injury he suffered while in policecustody.
Defenseattorneys and law professors generally agree that prosecutors chose to tryPorter first because they believed his to be the strongest case, but alsobecause the state hoped it could place Porter on the stand against his fellowofficers after the legal case against him concluded. Porter, who facesinvoluntary manslaughter and other charges, might have been particularly usefulin the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the van carrying Grayafter his arrest, experts say. In his trial, Porter testified that he hadsuggested to Goodson that they take Gray to a hospital after Gray asked formedical attention inside the van, a request that went unheeded.
Thequestion now is whether Goodson\’s trial, scheduled to begin on Jan. 6, willmove forward as scheduled or whether it will be delayed so that Porter\’s casecan be retried. University of Maryland law professor Michael Greenberger saysmoving Goodson\’s trial date “arguably deprives the defendant of a right to aspeedy trial,” meaning Porter’s case could potentially come after the otherfive trials.
