The start of jury selection in the first Freddie Gray trial will bring a big media presence to town Monday — and major challenges for the journalists trying to cover the proceedings.
The courthouse logistics are tough enough. There will be no cameras in the courtroom, and all electronic devices must be turned off in both the courtroom and an overflow room where reporters will watch a closed-circuit feed.
To tweet or post about the trial, members of the press will have to go to a media room where there will be no feed of court proceedings. Sheriff’s deputies have the right to “inspect all electronic devices for misuse” and confiscate them. Nor are they responsible for “damage or loss” of any devices they inspect or seize, according to an order signed by Administrative Judge W. Michel Pierson.
But restrictive as that might seem, the greater challenge for journalists involves the sociology and timing of the trial. In the wake of the release of a video showing a black teenager being shot and killed by a white police officer in Chicago, the trial arrives at a moment when the eyes of the nation are on race and community-police relations like no other time since the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Live coverage: http://bsun.md/liveblog
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671820033669115904
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671818697196072960
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671815461940645888
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671814146497896449
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671812902911918081
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671775803735203849
Live coverage: http://bsun.md/liveblog
https://twitter.com/WYPR881FM/status/671767929537581061
https://twitter.com/JordanChariton/status/671769212738777090
https://twitter.com/newsillustrator/status/671757664309936129
https://twitter.com/newsillustrator/status/671762579274993666
https://twitter.com/AC360/status/671506693927387137
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671709052750139392
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671719374449975296
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671718692338692096
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671718234136190977
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671717571423551490
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671717092106838016
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671710397628604416
https://twitter.com/jazziz2/status/671675605394587648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671459049028874241
Whoever wrote that VILE piece of shit about Freddie’s mom needs to have their asses dragged back, forward, around, and through the mill on TWITTER!
She’s getting a royal ass whipping on Twitter.
This is what she and her ilk do. They write this VILENESS to distract from the fact that the KILLERS are the CRIMINALS, this includes KILLER COPS & serial killers.
It’s the oldest trick in the book.
https://twitter.com/iMadeSmartCool/status/671442407628541952
CNN, Y’all
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671451031826530305
This kind of journalism is the most despicable, irresponsible, vileness these POS could ever write. No shame, no consciousness.
https://twitter.com/PKBNews/status/671438801231835136
https://twitter.com/ABC7Brad/status/671426027500003328
https://twitter.com/HellgrenWJZ/status/671424501524127746
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671394759756378113
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671393598391394304
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671392515598209024
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671392132117241856
https://twitter.com/senatorshlikas/status/671399735249383424
https://twitter.com/senatorshlikas/status/671398698346246144
Voir dire
The judge asked potential jurors a series of questions, and requested that they stand and give their juror number of they had a response or question.
Among the questions:
Would you give “more or less weight” to testimony from an officer simply because they are an officer? Seven jurors stood.
Are you or an immediate family member law enforcement? 12 stood.
Have you or your immediate family been the victim of crime, been arrested/charged/convicted, or facing pending charges? 38 stood.
Do you have strong feelings about the charges Porter faces? 26 stood.
Do you have “strong feelings” about Freddie Gray or Porter being African American? 1 stood.
Do you have strong feelings about the race, sex, religion, etc., of the defendant, witnesses, etc.? 1 stood.
Do you believe you can not serve on jury because of medical issues? 10 stood.
Do you believe you can not serve on jury for another reason? 29 stood.
One juror, No. 223, indicated he knew both Marilyn Mosby and Det. Syreeta Teel, the lead detective in the department’s internal investigation into Gray’s death.
As the morning turned into afternoon, Williams was individually questioning potential jurors on their responses to the questions.
http://live.baltimoresun.com/Event/Officer_William_Porter_trial_Freddie_Gray_case_live_coverage
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671385264548413440
https://twitter.com/lizzzbrown/status/671385873720700928
https://twitter.com/RectorSun/status/671382950827659264
https://twitter.com/SeanJWelsh/status/671347367455678464
https://twitter.com/ABC2NEWS/status/671380736834842625
https://twitter.com/RectorSun/status/671367250969034752
https://twitter.com/SeanJWelsh/status/671315473259212800
Hi SG2. Would mind changing the thread title to: Officer Porter Trial for Murder of Freddie Gray?
https://twitter.com/justin_fenton/status/671358375934980096
https://twitter.com/PKBNews/status/671359799754432512
https://twitter.com/jlepolastewart/status/671359985499168773
https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/671340112156991488
https://twitter.com/USATODAY/status/671351308184625152
You are going down, DOG. You will be made the first example of cops being convicted. And don’t think for one minute that your black ass is immune.
https://twitter.com/justingeorge/status/671357712639369216
everything i’m not @No_Cut_Card
if they call it “the Freddie Gray trial” enough you won’t bat an eye when they put his life on trial instead of the officers’ actions.
Like the “Oscar Grant murder trial.”
Exactly! Please change the thread title. Thank you, SG2!