While the jury selection for Porter’s trial will likely only last a couple of days, experts say that it’s a critical aspect in setting the tone of the trial.

“[It’s important] to select people who will consider the evidence in a fair and impartial manner,” said University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor Douglas Colbert. “And that the jury selection results in a cross-section of the Baltimore community that fairly represents people who live in our city.”

A small but vocal group of demonstrators gathered outside the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse Monday morning, including veteran Baltimore City public defender Todd Oppenheim, who is a candidate for judge in the city circuit court.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “I think we have some of the best jurors in the country and I think they can be fair to both sides . . . [But] I believe the court is at least partially responsible for perpetuating police misconduct.”

Oppenheim, who had an op-ed published in The New York Times over the weekend, continued to say that many stop-and-frisks have been ruled legal by judges in similar cases in the past, which perpetuates the misconduct he mentioned.

“What can start as a simple rummaging through someone’s pockets can snowball into violence and death,” he said. “It can start with a small thing and end up in a case like Freddie Gray.”

Demonstrators agreed that it doesn’t just pertain to the case of Freddie Gray, but also speaks to the larger national issue of police brutality, citing the recently released footage of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. There was a visible presence from the People’s Power Assembly, city youth mentors, and the family of Tyrone West, who died in July 2013 after an encounter with Baltimore police.

“Before Freddie Gray was brutally murdered, we started a movement right here in Baltimore,” said Tyrone’s sister Tawanda Jones. “We’ve been out here 123 weeks fighting peacefully for justice. My brother Tyrone West was brutally murdered. We expect justice to be served [in the Freddie Gray case]. We want convictions because indictments are far from convictions. We’re expecting all six [convictions], but even if we get one or two, one or two is better than nothing.”

Local experts say it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen on the ground as the trials continue, but officials are prepared to enact further safety measures if necessary.

“We plan business as usual,” said Maj. Sabrina Tapp-Harper, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, which handles courthouse security. “If we find protests are fueling problems, we will phase in additional security measures.”

In terms of how the six trials will play out and the verdicts’ potential impact on Baltimore activists and protests, University of Baltimore criminologist Jeffrey Ian Ross said, “there are probably 100 different scenarios.”

“My gut feeling is there are going to be some convictions on some charges, but ‘who’ and what charges—we will have to wait and see,” Ross said, adding, “I don’t think the outcomes will be satisfactory to everybody.”

Regarding the return of intense media coverage and the national media in Baltimore on Monday, Ross said it remains to be seen if the scrutiny of Porter’s trial will continue across all six trials, which are scheduled through the spring: “Both the news media and public have a limited attention span and limited tolerance for coverage of police brutality issues.”

Additional reporting provided by senior editor Ron Cassie and social media producer Meredith Herzing. See Cassie’s Twitter for live updates from the courthouse.

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Who is facing trial? Officer William G. Porter, 26, charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree negligent assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Porter has been free on $350,000 bail since charges were filed in May. He was born and raised in West Baltimore, in fact, not far from Freddie Gray grew up, and spoke about his life (but not this case) to The Washington Post in a September profile.

Porter, who joined the BPD in 2012, was not on the scene when Gray was arrested, but checked on Gray while he was being transported to Central Booking and allegedly disregarded a Gray request for medical assistance. It’s also alleged that he was negligent in not properly securing Gray in the police van with a seat belt where Gray is said to have suffered a spinal injury.

What happens today? The selection process for 12 jurors begins Monday morning at Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., Courthouse, at 100 N. Calvert Street. Last week, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams denied a proposal to sequester selected jurors, but did grant a defense request to keep the jurors’ identities anonymous. He’s also placed a gag order on attorneys involved with the case. It’s hard to predict how long jury selection will take, but it likely will be a day or couple of days—not a week or multiple weeks as has been happened in a few states involving high profile cases. The Maryland process employs a system known as “limited” voir dire—as the examination of prospective jurors is known— controlled by the judge, not the attorneys involved in the case.

The basic questionnaire for jurors can be found here. Judge Williams, however, is likely to allow a good deal of follow-up questions by prosecutors and defense attorneys given the publicity preceding the case, said longtime Maryland-based attorney Robert C. Bonsib. “In Maryland, what has to be asked is limited; what can be asked is more expansive,” Bonsib said. “Most judges are reasonable and responsive [to attorney’s inquiries of jurors] in a case like this.”

Who is the judge? The Hon. Barry G. Williams. Born in Neptune, NJ, Williams, 53, earned a B.A. in history from the University of Virginia, and his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. He’s served as a member of the Baltimore City Circuit Court since 2005. Prior to that, he served as special litigation counsel to the Civil Rights Division of U.S. Department of Justice from 2002-2005, and as a DOJ trial attorney from 1997-2002. While working for the Department of Justice, Williams gained experience prosecuting police brutality cases, as highlighted by Sun reporter Justin Fenton in a recent profile. Williams also served as an assistant state’s attorney for Baltimore City from 1989-97.

Prominent Baltimore defense lawyer William H. “Billy” Murphy, a former judge who has represented Gray’s family, described Williams on MSNBC Sunday as “an extraordinary fair human being.” He said Williams is a “no-nonsense judge,” who “won’t tolerate grandstanding” and “keep the trains running on time.”

Will there be demonstrations and street closures? While Baltimore police and the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office expect demonstrations outside the courthouse Monday morning, no streets closures have yet been planned—although that could change as events dictate, said Maj. Sabrina Tapp-Harper, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office. “We have security measures in place,” said Tapp-Harper, referring to potential disruptions downtown. “We don’t share that specific information publicly.”

However, during jury selection, parking will be prohibited, and strictly enforced, around both the Mitchell Courthouse and Courthouse East.

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