A majority-black jury will decide the fate of Baltimore City Police Officer William Porter, who was one of the officers indicted in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, the Huffington Post reports.
According to the report, on Wednesday, court officials announced that eight black jurors and four white jurors will determine whether Porter—who has been charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment—is guilty on any of those counts. Porter pleaded not guilty to those charges.
HuffPost notes that legal experts expect this trial to set the tone for the trials of the other five officers charged in the death, which happened in April while Gray was in police custody. Prosecutors are also hoping to use Porter as a material witness against at least two other officers involved, the site notes.
When jury selection began on Monday, more than half of the 75 potential jurors told Judge Barry Williams that they or someone in their family has been a victim of, investigated for, charged with or incarcerated for a crime, according to HuffPost. All of the potential jurors also said that they knew about Gray's death, which sparked nationwide protests, and even prompted a curfew in the torn city.
According to USA Today, the gender breakdown of the jury is eight women and four men. Opening arguments could be heard as early as Wednesday, and the judge opined that the trial could last about two weeks.
Porter's attorneys have reportedly asked Williams several times to take the trial out of the city, saying that there would be no way to secure an impartial jury.
Read more at the Huffington Post and USA Today.