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Sunday, December 27, 2015

JUST IN: New trial date set for Officer William Porter

BALTIMORE —A new trial date has been set for Officer William Porter in the death of Freddie Gray.

The trial is set for June 13. The date selected at a scheduling conference held in Judge Barry Williams' chambers Monday with the attorneys for the case.

The new trial date will be formalized and approved at an Administrative Court hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Courthouse East. The sole purpose of the hearing is to have the new trial date read in to the record.

A mistrial was declared Wednesday after a hung jury on all four charges against Porter.

Source

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Daylight savings time and warm weather....much better for rioting and looting!

Anonymous said...

Interesting, the prosecution's strategy was to use Officer Porter as a witness against the driver. Do the other trials move forward or will they also be rescheduled? If I were Officer Porter's lawyer there's no way my client would testify against any of the others without a major deal.

Anonymous said...

The idea that Porter will face retrial after Goodson and White are tried makes little sense, unless one considers that the prosecutors have totally impeached him by claiming that he lied on the stand during his 1st trial.

Now their cases against White and Goodson are diminished, which is astounding since some experienced litigators have already said that the case against Porter was phenomenally weak to begin with.

Anonymous said...

According to an article in the Baltimore Sun, the state will have to begin taking a hard look at giving Officer Porter immunity, so he can testify against Officer Goodson and Sgt. White.
It might be in his own best interest to stay Schtum (take the 5th) and so perhaps make it less likely that there is a conviction for others. If they are acquitted (no crime), then his (lesser) role becomes moot.

Anonymous said...

With only 7 looting days left before Christmas....Baltimore better think fast.

Anonymous said...

Anyone would think that with such a high profile case, Mosby would have had the retrial sooner... like next week...this is a major embarrassment for the poster child for failed affirmative action...oh how it wanted a show trial with the absolute maximum penalty... to send a message to it's own police department...but that's not going to be easy now...its no longer a slam dunk...if the Black Lives Matter people want to make a race issue they need to get away from the career criminals and find a REAL victim.

Anonymous said...

State is starving the cop out. His attorney fees are already staggering. He has no income. State has all the money and now has a cheat sheet for the June trial. State are held at zero accountability and the White House is in their corner. Sad times.

Anonymous said...

The prosecutions best case flopped. It will flop again. So will the other 5 cases. There are some minor legal factors in the way of any conviction ... like "reasonable doubt" for each of them.

This case took a few days and ended in a hung jury and the vultures began circling. By the middle of June they should be pretty hungry. Maybe bleachers should be installed in Baltimore so that everyone can get a good seat to the riots and looting.

Anonymous said...

B, S.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a slam dunk case for the perpetually angry Mosby? She seemed pretty confident when she stood in front of that microphone listing those charges. When she said she heard Baltimore's cry of no justice no peace. Well how's that mob justice working out for you Mosby? You've only served to prove what intelligent people knew about you. You are an ignoramus. An incompetent prosecutor who abused your position to soothe the savage beasts from rioting. Now you've got crap all over your face. You nasty filthy piss poor excuse for a human being. You pushed a civil negligence case through the criminal justice system and ended up with a hung jury. I hope this is your last term as SA and the savages vote you out.

Anonymous said...

That dopey states attorney had what she thought was her best case, located in Baltimore, with protesters chants being heard within the courtroom and she couldn't get a guilty verdict? Everything was in her favor except for the evidence. Another trial is a waste of time and money, but after her little speech, she has to. When the acquittal or another hung jury occurs in July, the weather will be perfect for looting and rioting.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...

State is starving the cop out. His attorney fees are already staggering. He has no income. State has all the money and now has a cheat sheet for the June trial. State are held at zero accountability and the White House is in their corner. Sad times.

December 21, 2015 at 4:51 PM"

4:51 The Innocent Baltimore 6 have God on THEIR side and He has sent many Godly people to underwrite their defense. The belief that the State has "all the money" is a misnomer. The SA's office operates under budget constraints and pursuing these show trials will ONLY result in either hung juries or acquittals, the costs which will be staggering. This will result in the real criminals charges either being dropped or pleas. Subsequently they will go back into the neighborhoods and wreak more of their havoc. All I can say is that the residents of that city need to keep on digging the graves. They grew it now they will have to swim in the bloodbaths of THEIR OWN creation. Experience is the best teacher for these evil evil people.

Anonymous said...

I hate that Mosby. She's such a liar. She sold herself on being from a family of LE but failed to mention they were all criminals and crooks themselves. This is why she hates LE. They caught up and punished the ghetto skanks family and she's out to get them. She's the epitome why all the crime in black neighborhoods. Honesty is a foreign concept to them and when there is no honesty in a culture it breaks down.

Anonymous said...

This is pure BS, the prosecution had its chance at him, and lost. Double jeopardy should apply.
I hate this crap of a mistrial they get to go at you over and over again. I really don't believe the founding fathers allowed this crap to negate the double jeopardy clause.

Anonymous said...

Baltimore is a joke
Why anyone would ever want to live or even work in that cesspool i'll never know

Anonymous said...

They need to use M&T Stadium for the riots that will surely start in the spring -- much better than watching the Ravens!

Anonymous said...

I agree

Anonymous said...

If I were Officer Porter's lawyer there's no way my client would testify against any of the others without a major deal.

December 21, 2015 at 3:46 PM

if he's innocent he doesn't need a deal.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
This is pure BS, the prosecution had its chance at him, and lost. Double jeopardy should apply.
I hate this crap of a mistrial they get to go at you over and over again. I really don't believe the founding fathers allowed this crap to negate the double jeopardy clause.

December 21, 2015 at 5:46 PM

there was NO verdict. double jeopardy does NOT apply.

Williamsburg Scholar said...

Originally, once a jury was selected and the trial began, Jeopardy was "Attached" to the accused, if there was no verdict agreed on, the suspect was set free.
This was the original system in the early United States, no verdict trials were extremely rare, so therefore the accused was set free. Same as when being hung, if something failed, or the person lived, they were set free.
Somewhere the system got screwed up over time.

Anonymous said...

750 you are so funny. If you can't do teach.

Anonymous said...

750 how many trials have you handled? Zero. Thought so.

Anonymous said...

Double Jeopardy After a Mistrial
Mistrials are granted in cases where circumstances make finishing the case impractical or impossible. Mistrials are also declared when jurors fail to reach a unanimous verdict. When this occurs, double jeopardy is not terminated if it occurs with the defendant’s consent. In other words, if a mistrial could be reasonably have been avoided, jeopardy is terminated, and the defendant cannot be retried. If the mistrial was declared by “manifest necessity,” jeopardy is not terminated, and the defendant may be retried.

United States v Josef Perez

In this case, the trial of Josef Perez for a capital offense ended in a hung jury, causing the judge to declare a mistrial. Perez’ attorney asserted that Perez had already been tried, and so was protected under the double jeopardy clause. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the declaration of a mistrial born of necessity, in this case, because the jury could not reach a verdict, did not prevent retrial on the same offense. Perez was ordered to remain in custody, pending a new trial on the original charges.

State of Georgia v James Arthur Williams

Retrials are not common as they can be very expensive for both the prosecution and the defendant. One notable case occurred in the 1980s, when James Williams, an historic preservationist and antiques dealer, was charged with the shooting death of his assistant and lover, Danny Hansford, in his Savannah, Georgia home. Williams was convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison; however, his attorney, after the trial, received an anonymous copy of the police report showing that the arresting officer had provided contradictory testimony. The guilty judgment was overturned and Williams was re-tried.

The Georgia State Supreme Court found other irregularities and errors in the second trial, and the third trial ended in an 11:1 hung jury. The fourth trial was held in a different jurisdiction, in Augusta, Georgia, where the jury took only one hour to decide the killing was the result of self defense, and return a verdict of not guilty. This case of The State of Georgia v James Arthur Williams holds the record in the U.S. for the most number of mistrials, and became the subject of the 1995 book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

Anonymous said...

Mosby needs to hang it up. She will never get any convictions. It was 10-2 for not guilty. If I know this, the prosecution knows. In an honest prosecution she would not retry realizing it is futile not too mention a complete waste of money.
If this were a real judge he would dismiss, not unheard of with this split. I think the state is hoping for a deal with Officer Porter. He should tell them to go jump in the lake.

Anonymous said...

1056 you are wrong on all counts. Take up scrabble

Anonymous said...

Can anyone say "right to a speedy trial?" I can understand the delay in his trial, I guess, but the other officers should demand that their trials go forward as scheduled. The prosecutor's strategy shouldn't force them to wait years for it to play out.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
1056 you are wrong on all counts. Take up scrabble

December 27, 2015 at 6:11 PM

lol I am wrong on court cases? riiight