It wasn’t clear how the mistrial would affect the state’s cases against the other officers. Prosecutors had planned to use Porter’s testimony against two of his fellow officers.
Several other recent cases against police officers charged in deadly confrontations with black men have ended similarly. In August, a North Carolina jury deadlocked in the trial of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Randall Kerrick. Prosecutors said they won’t retry the white officer for voluntary manslaughter in the September 2013 shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, who was unarmed.
In June, a South Carolina jury couldn’t reach a verdict in the retrial of former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs, who is white. His lawyer said Combs acted in self-defense in the May 2011 shooting of Bernard Bailey, who was unarmed.
Combs pleaded guilty in September to misconduct in office. He was sentenced to a year of home detention.
Prosecutors in Porter’s trial argued he was criminally negligent for ignoring a Baltimore Police Department policy requiring officers to seat belt prisoners, and for not calling an ambulance immediately after Gray indicated he needed medical help.
Porter, who was driving a patrol car the day Gray was arrested, was present at five of the van’s six stops during its circuitous trip.
The defense said Porter went beyond the call of duty in helping the handcuffed and shackled prisoner move from the floor of the van to a bench in the wagon, and in telling the van driver and a supervisor that Gray said he needed to go to a hospital. The defense mainly cast blame on the van driver, Officer Caesar Goodson, whose trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6.
