Trial for one of the pigs that killed Freddy Gray begins Monday...

Trials of officers in Freddie Gray case begin amid skepticism over process

Harold Perry, a blind 72-year-old-man, still can’t shake what he heard through his window on the morning of 12 April.

“I still hear the young man crying, screaming at certain points,” said Perry, standing on his porch in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore, across the street from the court in Gilmor Homes where Freddie Gray was arrested.

Perry, who was wearing dark glasses and holding a cane in one hand as he smoked a cigarette in the sun while a group of young men stood on the corner joking, remembered that morning all too well. He was still asleep when the cries of the 25-year-old Gray awoke him.

“I heard him screaming: ‘Get off my back, you’re hurting my neck, you’re hurting my neck. I got asthma, I got asthma,’” Perry recalled. “And he started screaming, ‘Help, please, somebody help me. You’re hurting my back.’ And then it kind of quieted down. I guess they handcuffed him and they brought him up to that point over there where the mural is and threw him down on the ground and two police cars pulled up right here in front of my house.”

Perry is blind and couldn’t see what was happening to Gray, but he woke his wife to tell her that the police were beating someone outside. She looked out the window and saw the officers dragging Gray to the transport wagon that pulled up.

What happened next – and during the 45 minutes it took the officers to get Gray to the western district police station, only a few blocks away – will be the crux of the six individual trials of the officers involved in Gray’s arrest that day, which led to his death a week later.

Jury selection in the first trial, that of officer William Porter, begins Monday. Porter’s lawyers have repeatedly asked to have the trial moved out of the city, most recently at a final round of motion hearings last week based on a new study showing that residents of Baltimore who make up the jury pool have more negative views of police than those in the surrounding counties. “Because there’s a study, I should just tell the people of Baltimore they can’t be on a jury?” asked judge Barry Williams. “Denied,” he added as he walked away from the bench. Williams has ruled that the jury will be anonymous but not sequestered.

Though a majority of Baltimore’s police officers don’t live in the city, Porter, who will be tried first for manslaughter and other charges, grew up near Gray in West Baltimore. According to official statements provided to the Baltimore Sun, Porter told investigators that Gray asked him for help that morning. “Help me, help me up,” Gray said. Porter asked if he needed a medic or to go to the hospital and Gray said he did. At this point, according to Porter’s statements, he told Cesare Goodson, the van’s driver, that central booking would not take Gray because he was injured.

Goodson is facing the most serious charges, including second degree depraved heart murder, and is scheduled to be tried second, on 9 January.

‘Aye, Pepper!’

The uprising that began after video of Gray’s altercation with police was released made the Sandtown neighborhood the center of the world’s attention. But it all began quietly, where Gray was arrested, across the street from Harold Perry’s house, with vigils made up mostly of locals, the cry of “Aye, Pepper!” – Pepper was Gray’s nickname – echoing through the neighborhood. Within a few days, Gray’s name had become a hashtag and the 25-year-old had become a symbol and a part of the nation’s larger discussion of police brutality against unarmed black men.

Over the next days, the protests grew. On Saturday 25 April, a massive march from the Sandtown-Winchester area to city hall ended in a tense standoff between police, now wearing riot gear, and protesters. Skirmishes between between police and residents of Sandtown continued through much of the night, resulting in multiple arrests and injuries.

The tensions came to a head after Gray’s funeral on Monday afternoon. That morning, Baltimore police issued a statement about a “credible threat” that gangs were coming together to “take out” police and warned of rumors of an anarchic “purge” of high school students.

Then someone decided – neither the Fraternal Order of Police nor independent reports have been able to identify who – that schools should be released early and all public transportation shut down at Mondawmin Mall, a local transportation hub. When the buses stopped and students stepped out, they found phalanxes of police in riot gear. Several minutes later, rocks began to fly, setting off a protracted battle between police and students.

Within the next couple of hours, the chaos moved down to the corners of Pennsylvania and North Avenues, where police cars and the CVS drugstore, which was first looted, were set on fire.

The rioting spread through much of the city. Windows were smashed and businesses robbed as groups of young people roamed around town. The governor called a state of emergency, the mayor announced curfews, and as the sun came up the next morning, transport vehicles carrying hundreds of national guardsmen rolled up Interstate 83 into the city.

On Friday 1 May, after a tense week of protests and hundreds of arrests surrounding the enforcement of a curfew, Marilyn Mosby, who had only recently become the city’s chief prosecutor, stood up at a press conference and announced charges against all six officers involved in Gray’s death. “To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for ‘No justice, no peace.’ Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.”

It was the first swift indictment by a prosecutor of police amid a recent spate killings of unarmed black men. In many ways, Baltimore police and protesters had been prepared for this uprising by the massive protests that shut down the city last November after a Missouri prosecutor decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown.

Hundreds of people spent the day dancing in the street after the announcement that charges would be filed. And Mosby, one of the youngest prosecutors in the country, became a national figure – hated by many in the law enforcement community and held up as a hero by protesters.

First officer faces trial in Freddie Gray case

Jury selection begins for one of the six Baltimore Police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, was fatally injured while in police custody.

Jury selection began Monday in the first high-stakes trial for Baltimore police officers involved in the April arrest of Freddie Gray, a young black man whose death set off a series of sometimes violent protests that tore "Charm City" apart.

The jury selection process for officer William Porter is crucial because it could determine whether it is possible to select impartial juries in the city for each of six officers charged in connection with Gray's death. Lawyers for the officers have said it's not possible; Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams decided to try.

Williams conducted initial questioning in a courtroom, but planned to interview 66 prospective jurors in a private conference room, The Associated Press reported. The judge asked 75 potential jurors on Monday whether anyone had not heard about the case, the citywide curfew imposed after Gray's death or the $6.4 million settlement paid to his family. No one responded, but 12 jurors said they had family members in law enforcement. Thirty-seven said they had been a victim or a suspect in a crime, had been to jail or had charges pending against them, AP reported.

Twenty-six people said they had strong feelings about the charges against Porter.

Williams spent Monday afternoon questioning jurors individually, a process that could take days, The Baltimore Sun reported.

As the hearing proceeded, a small group of protesters gathered outside the courtroom, their chants of "All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray," audible throughout the proceedings.

Porter is charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault in the death of Gray, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody after his arrest April 12. Gray, 25, had been accused of carrying an illegal switchblade and was loaded unsecured in a police van. He died, apparently of injuries suffered in the van, one week later.

Protests that had been mostly peaceful then turned ugly, and rioting, looting and arson rocked the city. Baltimore's police chief was later fired and "Justice for Freddie Gray" became a battle cry for demonstrators in the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Gray's case also prompted protests across the nation from demonstrators still outraged by the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police officers in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere.

Porter, 26, is a Baltimore native. Prosecutors say he monitored Gray during more than 30 minutes Gray spent in the van but ignored Gray's pleas for medical assistance.

Tessa Hill-Alston, president of the local NAACP, told The Baltimore Sun that her group will closely monitor the trial.

"We just want fairness and justice for Freddie Gray in a legal, calm way, and the courtroom is where it's happening," Hill-Alston told the Sun. She added, "This is a different day for Baltimore citizens, to have police go to trial. This is a monumental thing."

State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby drew praise from demonstration leaders and Gray's family when she announced May 1 that charges would be filed against six city officers — three black, three white — she said were responsible for Gray's death. Local Fraternal Order of Police president Gene Ryan expressed outrage.

The other trials are schedule for 2016. Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the only officer who declined to speak to investigators after Gray's death, faces the most serious charges. Goodson, the officer driving the van, is charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder, a charge for an action that is considered to demonstrate a callous disregard for human life. In Maryland, it carries a sentence of up to 30 years. .

Prosecutors accuse Goodson of driving erratically despite knowing that Gray was injured and asking for medical assistance.

The city agreed in September to the settlement with Gray's family to avoid civil litigation in the case. Gray family lawyer Billy Murphy said the settlement "represents civil justice." But Ryan called the deal "obscene," saying it would damage relations between officers and the city as well as efforts to return the city to "pre-riot normalcy."

CNN Boss Jeff Zucker Apologizes for Controversial Freddie Gray Story (Exclusive)

Article on network’s website called man who died in Baltimore police custody “the son of an illiterate heroin addict”

CNN president Jeff Zucker on Tuesday admitted it was a “mistake” to publish a controversial story on the network’s website Monday calling slain Baltimore resident Freddie Gray “the son of an illiterate heroin addict.”

“This was a mistake,” Zucker said at a town hall event for staffers. “The digital team removed it last night and inserted an editors note to be completely transparent. The editorial intent as the digital team has laid it out to me was to make clear he had a difficult upbringing. But clearly it did not come across that way when it was written and published. We recognize that. It did not work and we removed it. And were transparent about that. That was a mistake.”

Though a network insider who observed the town hall event described Zucker’s comments as an apology and his behavior as conciliatory, a CNN spokesperson disputed that characterization: “He never used the word ‘apology,’ nor any word that evokes apology.”

The story, about the first day of jury selection in the trial of one of the Baltimore officer’s charged with the late Gray’s killing, drew the ire of many on social media for reporting: “The April 19 death of Freddie Gray, the son of an illiterate heroin addict, made him a symbol of the black community’s distrust of police.”

CNN was ripped by many for what appeared to be an insensitive depiction of Gray. “Here we go. Freddie Gray on trial in the murder of Freddie Gray,” one Twitter user wrote.

Another took the network to task for its selective policy on suspending reporters after reporter Elise Labott was suspended for a tweet that criticized Congress’ bill restricting Syrian refugees entering the U.S.

Gray, of course, was the center of a media firestorm and widespread protests in Baltimore in April after he died as a result of not being properly belted into a police van after his arrest for carrying what officers determined to be an illegal switchblade.

The 25-year-old African American succumbed to life-ending spinal cord injuries suffered during the arrest. Six officers involved with his death were charged in May.

Jury selected for first Freddie Gray trial

A jury was seated in Baltimore for the trial of Officer William Porter on Wednesday, the first of six city police officers charged with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Porter is charged with involuntary manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty.

The jury for Porter's trial is made up of eight women and four men. The breakdown of race and ages are as follows:

3 white women (all over the age of 50)
3 black men (all over the age of 50)
5 black women (range of ages)
1 white man
The four alternates are men.

The jury selection took place in an open court, the field eventually winnowed down from 47 prospective jurors. The pool included approximately 20 women. The racial makeup of the jury pool aligned closely with the city's demographics, with 20 white jurors and 27 black.

Both sides struck out several possibilities during the selection process.

The state's first "strike" was a young, white male. The defense's first strikes were two young black males and one young black female.

The last juror seated was a young, white male.

The jurors remained anonymous.

Oral arguments are expected to begin Wednesday.

Officer Told Detectives He Didn’t Know Freddie Gray Needed a Medic

BALTIMORE — As a transport van carrying Freddie Gray arrived at a police station here, Officer William G. Porter told investigators that he looked inside, saw Mr. Gray lying limp, shackled and unresponsive on the floor, uttered an expletive and announced, “We need to call for a medic.”

Officer Porter’s comments, on an hourlong videotaped interview that is the centerpiece of the state’s case against him, were played for a jury here on the third day of the his trial in the death of Mr. Gray, a 25-year-old black man who prosecutors say suffered a spinal cord injury into the van.

As the jury of eight women and four men sat riveted, the officer, speaking calmly in a plain white room, at a metal table with two investigators, acknowledged repeatedly that no seatbelt was used, and said he did not call for a medic because Mr. Gray never explained what was bothering him. The investigators pressed him on it.

“He didn’t tell me that he was hurt in any way, shape or form,” the officer said. “He just said he wanted a medic. He never said to me that he needed a medic. I offered him.”

The interview, conducted on April 17 — five days after Mr. Gray’s arrest and two days before he died — offers the clearest account yet, from the perspective of an officer in his own words, of how police handled their encounter with Mr. Gray. Officer Porter, who knew Mr. Gray from his West Baltimore neighborhood, was not involved in the initial arrest, but was present, trying to control the crowd, and then followed the van, as backup, from stop to stop.

He waived his right to have a lawyer present, and at times seemed evasive and protective of his fellow officers, insisting, for instance, that he could not remember who shackled Mr. Gray’s legs and loaded him back into the transport van after it made a stop. The Internal Affairs detectives seemed disbelieving.

“How long have you been with these gentlemen?” one investigator asked.

“Two years,” Officer Porter replied.

“You can’t distinguish which was which?”

The interview was played during the testimony of Detective Syreeta Teel, the lead investigator into the arrest and injuries suffered by Mr. Gray. She helped -conduct the interview and testified that she had a slightly different conversation with him by phone two days earlier.

In that phone call, she testified, Officer Porter described an exchange he had with Mr. Gray when Mr. Gray was lying in the van but still conscious.

Officer Porter “asked him what was up,” she said, adding, that Officer Porter said Mr. Gray “stated that he couldn’t breathe.”

But, during his video interview, Officer Porter did not say Mr. Gray told him of any difficulty breathing. It was an inconsistency that Gary Proctor, a defense attorney, seized upon during his cross-examination of Ms. Teel.

“In the recorded statement, the only mention of Freddie Gray’s breathing was Officer Porter saying he wasn’t having any trouble breathing?” asked Mr. Proctor, and Ms. Teel said, “Yes.”

The phrase “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry after the July 2014 death of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a white police officer, and it appears that a similar utterance will be a critical point of contention in the trial of Officer Porter. The state says Mr. Gray told Officer Porter he could not breathe during that fourth stop, and that it was negligence when Officer Porter did not immediately call a medic; lawyers for Officer Porter said in opening statements that the officer did not hear Mr. Gray say he could not breathe

The testimony took place on the third day of the trial of Officer Porter in the death of Mr. Gray, who has become a national symbol amid a wrenching debate over race and policing. His death in April set off the worst riots in Baltimore since 1968. The city is still struggling to recover.

Prosecutors have said that Officer Porter is being tried for what he did, but also for “what he did not do,” and they have told the jury in their opening statement that he is guilty of “gross indifference to whether Mr. Gray survived.” They say he could have called for a medic with the push of a button on his vest, and that he endangered Mr. Gray by not buckling him into the van, as department regulations require.

The defense has tried to lay blame on the van driver, and on a department culture that, it says, was lax about following regulations. Officer Porter has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.

On Thursday the trial took a deeply emotional turn during the testimony of one of Mr. Gray’s best friends, Brandon Ross, as jurors watched two cellphone videos of Mr. Gray’s chaotic arrest. Mr. Gray’s mother was escorted from the courtroom sobbing, the judge called a brief recess and Mr. Ross, who had been testifying, also walked out in tears.

The first video, widely viewed here after Mr. Gray’s arrest in April, showed him being dragged, screaming into a police van where prosecutors say he suffered the spinal cord injury that later killed him. As bystanders watched, one could be heard saying, “After they tase you like that, you wonder why he can’t use his legs?”

The second — taken by Mr. Ross, who testified that he and Mr. Gray had been “like brothers” — showed Mr. Gray, his knees on the ground, being shackled outside the van. It was filled with angry shouts and screams from Mr. Ross, who repeatedly called out, “That’s not cool!” and at one point begged Officer Porter: “Hey, Porter, can we get a supervisor up here? Please?”

Mr. Proctor, who represents Officer Porter, tried to use that moment to the officer’s advantage, suggesting it showed Mr. Ross felt comfortable asking Officer Porter for help because he “trusted” him. “I wouldn’t use the word trust,” Mr. Ross replied.