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The six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, clockwise from from top left: Caesar R. Goodson Jr., Garrett E. Miller, Edward M. Nero, Alicia D. White, Brian W. Rice and William G. Porter.Credit Baltimore Police Department

BALTIMORE — Six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury in police custody, will be tried in Baltimore, a circuit court judge ruled here Thursday, saying defense lawyers had “not met their constitutional burden” for moving the trials to another jurisdiction.

In making his decision, Judge Barry G. Williams of the Baltimore City Circuit Court rejected defense lawyers’ arguments that the intense publicity surrounding Mr. Gray’s death, and the riots that followed, would make it impossible for the officers to receive fair and impartial trials in the city.

“The citizens of Baltimore are not monolithic,” Judge Williams said. “They think for themselves.”

The ruling cleared the way for the first of the six trials to begin as early as next month, though the judge did leave open the possibility that he would reconsider if picking a jury proved difficult. A day earlier, Baltimore officials agreed to pay the Gray family $6.4 million to settle an expected lawsuit — a deal that defense lawyers also argued would prejudice potential jurors against their clients.

“We cannot have a single juror who’s not a taxpayer — every single juror will be paying that settlement,” Ivan Bates, the lawyer arguing on behalf of all six officers, told the judge. “What that settlement says is, ‘These officers are guilty.’ ”

City officials have said that the settlement — approved Wednesday by a five-member panel that includes Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake — is not an admission of wrongdoing on the part of the city or the officers, a point that a prosecutor, Michael Schatzow, reiterated to the judge. “They have conceded nothing,” he said. “They have acknowledged nothing. They’ve admitted nothing.”

Thursday’s hearing was the second of two pretrial sessions — the first was last week — that determined how the cases of the six officers would proceed. Last week, Judge Williams ruled that the officers would be tried separately, and he rejected requests by defense lawyers to force the removal of the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, Marilyn J. Mosby, as the prosecutor.

The hearings have once again set this city on edge. Mayor Rawlings-Blake has said repeatedly in recent weeks that Baltimore is prepared for more unrest, and the interim police commissioner, Kevin Davis, canceled leave for officers on Thursday, as he had during last week’s hearing.

Outside the courthouse on Thursday, Mr. Davis mingled with a small crowd of demonstrators, who later cheered the judge’s decision.

“It is a step in the right direction — I would even go so far as to call it promising,” said Cortly C. D. Witherspoon, an activist and president of the Baltimore city chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “I think this would not have happened if people were not out in the street.”

Mr. Gray was arrested April 12 in West Baltimore and died in a hospital a week later. His death set off more than a week of sometimes violent protests that culminated in a wave of rioting, looting and arson; protesters set cars on fire and burned down drugstores and a center for older adults. Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and sent in the National Guard to restore order, and Ms. Rawlings-Blake imposed a curfew that lasted five nights.

In filing criminal charges against the six officers, Ms. Mosby asserted that they had improperly arrested and shackled Mr. Gray, violating police rules and common standards of decency by loading him into a van without required safety restraints and by ignoring his pleas for help during the ride.

The officers face varying charges. Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., the driver of the van, is charged with second-degree depraved-heart murder — in essence, murder with willful disregard for human life. Sgt. Alicia D. White, Lt. Brian Rice and Officer William G. Porter are charged with manslaughter. Officers Edward M. Nero and Garrett Miller face lesser charges, including second-degree assault.

In arguing for the trials to be moved, Mr. Bates said that the riots constituted “a city under siege” and that the relentless news coverage would prejudice potential jurors. But Mr. Schatzow said not all the coverage had been negative toward the officers.

“The media hasn’t found these people guilty,” he said. “The media hasn’t called for their conviction.”