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 The seven-woman, five-man jury that will weigh the fate of Officer
William Porter will hear instructions from Baltimore City Circuit
Court Judge Barry Williams and then final arguments from prosecutors
and defense lawyers.
Porter, 26, was also charged with second-degree assault, reckless
endangerment and misconduct in the April death of Freddie Gray, 25,
whose spine was injured while he was in the back of a police van.
Gray died a week later.
His death triggered rioting in the largely black city and
intensified a U.S. debate over the use of excessive force by police
against minorities.Porter is the first of six officers, three of
them black, to be tried in Gray's death. The charges against the
others range from second-degree murder for van driver Officer Caesar
Goodson to misconduct in office.
 Gray was arrested after fleeing from police. He was put into a
transport van, shackled and handcuffed, but he was not secured by a
seat belt.
Porter, who is black, was a backup officer and present at five of
six stops the van made with Gray inside. At the fourth stop Gray
told Porter he needed medical aid and Porter helped him onto a van
bench.
According to testimony, Porter told Goodson and Sergeant Alicia
White that Gray had asked for aid but none was summoned.
Prosecutors have sought to show that Porter ignored Gray's pleas and
failed to seat belt him in violation of department procedures.
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Defense lawyers have argued that Porter acted responsibly by passing
on Gray's request for aid to Goodson and White.
Law enforcement experts and Baltimore officers have testified that
detainees were routinely transported in vans without being buckled
in place.
To prove that Porter committed involuntary manslaughter, his
attorneys have said, prosecutors must show that his conduct differed
widely from what an officer reasonably would have done.
Baltimore agreed in September to pay Gray's family a $6.4 million
civil settlement over his death.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis
have urged calm regardless of the jury's verdict.
(Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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