[BALTIMORESUN] Judge Barry G. Williams on Tuesday ordered a deadlocked jury panel back to work about 10 hours into deliberations over Officer William G. Porter's guilt or innocence in the death of Freddie Gray -- asking them to try harder to reach a consensus.
The 12-member panel is charged with reaching a unanimous verdict on four separate charges against Porter: involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. If they cannot, Williams will be forced to declare a mistrial on the undecided counts, leaving it to prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case.
After beginning deliberations Monday afternoon, the jury sent a note to Williams on Tuesday afternoon indicating it was deadlocked. The panel did not elaborate on whether it was split on one, some or all of the charges, or which way it was leaning on them.
Williams, meeting the jurors about 3:30 p.m. in open court, instructed them to return to deliberations. He read from a portion of the jury instructions that said the jury must come to a unanimous decision in order to reach a conviction or acquittal. |