There will be some “letter of the rule” jurors versus “spirit of the rule” jurors.  Some will think that Freddie Gray should have been buckled into a seatbelt per Baltimore Police Order and that right there is enough inaction to find wrongdoing.  Others will say it wasn’t practical and virtually no suspects were buckled in, and Porter was just rightfully doing his job when confronting Freddie Gray. Some extra-legal factors

Several people have asked me what effect if any, the San Bernardino shooting, along with other mass shootings with the haunting backdrop of terrorist threats, will have on jury decision making. Such questions assume that people are living in fear yet again and are being forced to consider (even subconsciously) their own mortality more than they have had to in a long time, probably the most since September 11, 2001.