you had that moment on may 1st when there was a lot of euphoria. but the elements you have to prove under law. and ari melber would be better to explain this than i. but what the prosecution had to prove was that william porter purposefully took action or failed to take action that he knew could result in the death of freddie gray. and as hard as that is to prove when you have an incident involving a firearm, you now have a case involving a rough ride, essentially an unbelted passenger inside the back of a transport van. you remember that washington posted extensive stories about these rough rides, about this habit of putting people into the back of the van, without regard to belting them in or their safety. there s a lot that the police department has been frank about that they need to change their procedures and the care given to the humanity of people who they re transporting. that doesn t mean you can convince 12 people that a crime
also a very strong case on behalf of their client officer porter. starting with his own testimony on the stand. he was very likable likeable, t, to the jury. he was charming, he told his story. he did everything he could, even told the driver and the sergeant on the scene, i think this guy needs help. he sat him up, he was on the floor, shackled in. he also felt that this was a guy he knew from the neighborhood. this was a guy who would cause a scene at times, and he probably felt that he was faking. his mother took the stand. she said, if anybody was sort of a peace maker, it was my son officer porter. he was the kind of guy who would come in and be a peace maker. and he sort of related to the jury. he s here, a baltimore city resident. he s 26. so both sides really put on a very strong case and that might have gone towards the difficulty that this jury had in coming to a decision. kate? adam, as we look at that line of sheriff s deputies in front
of cooperation or the feeling that the police and the community are coming together. you have a new police commissioner and a new commander, an african american woman, who when we spoke to her, when she was just about to take that command, was saying that was going to be her top priority, to create a relationship between members of this community and the police. community policing. and we were told it s working better. in east baltimore, a similarly impoverished community, where s there s somewhat of a better relationship. this case is going to continue to reverberate into the city of baltimore. is that the next mayoral race happening soon? that s next year. you have multiple contenders for the mayor s office. the freddie grace case is front and center and i think will continue to be. marilyn mosby is at the center of this case.
to acquit. what counts were they hung up on, those things are critical if they re going to pursue a retrial in this case. kate? adam, thank you. let me go back to joy reid who is with me here on the set. we re watching sort of tense pictures, but i really want to recap, joy, and make sure that people who are just joining us know that this is not an out of control situation by any means. this is baltimore. we re talking about the trial of the first police officer in connection with the death of freddie gray. the jury is a hung jury. a missed trial has been declared. we ve seen security gather outside of the courthouse and that s what you re looking at. one person who seems to have a loud point of view, he s talking to the sheriff s deputies. we re not seeing giant crowds of people. we re waiting to see what happens next in terms of the emergence of the jury in this case. the city has taken steps to
express their displeasure. they obviously wanted a guilty verdict. there hasn t been a not guilty or a guilty verdict. they are now moving down the street towards city hall. if you look down the street, just a group of about 12 protesters. i don t see any police or sheriff s officers following them, but we ll keep you posted and make sure we follow both that location and we re also waiting to hear from freddie gray s mother. brian? adam, thank you. we re happy to say that the story is and remains at this hour a mistrial, a hung jury in this case. you ve heard the expression, cooler heads prevailing. that gentleman we heard from briefly was advocating cooler heads prevailing in this circumstance, so that baltimore isn t the focus of national media attention for all the wrong reasons as it was after the tragic death in police custody of freddie gray back in april. so we will our studio team stands by, ari melber, joy reid, and back to you, kate snow.