The trial of three Baltimore police officers facing charges over the death of Freddie Gray can resume in February, after a judge denied a motion on Wednesday to compel a fellow officer to testify in their cases.
The reverse ruling in the case could have postponed indefinitely the cases against all five officers in the closely watched case.
Judge Barry Williams held that Officer William Porter could not be forced to testify in three officers’ trials, while awaiting his own retrial later this year.
The ruling comes after Williams made what many people called the unprecedented decision last week to compel Porter’s testimony in the trial of another officer facing the most severe charges, Officer Caesar Goodson. He also held that Porter could be forced to testify against Sgt Alicia White, Porter’s supervisor.
Porter’s attorneys argued that the ruling violated Porter’s fifth amendment right against self-incrimination because he is also facing a retrial in his own case related to Gray’s death. They appealed the issue to Maryland’s second highest court, and the court issued an injunction until after it hears arguments on 4 March. That appeals court ruling postponed for months or longer what many consider the most crucial case over Gray’s death, that against Goodson, the driver of the van in which Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury.
Wednesday’s hearing confirmed that the other three trials would continue as scheduled so that jury selection in the case against Officer Edward Nero will begin 22 February, followed by that of Garrett Miller on 7 March.
The state argued that it wanted Porter to testify so it could show that Nero, Brian Rice and Miller did not fasten Gray’s seatbelt on the van’s second stop, shortly after Gray’s arrest and to help show when the injury occurred. This would have postponed all of the cases indefinitely.
In denying the motion, the judge argued that the state had a “dual purpose, to get the postponement that they want … and possibly for the reasons that they stated.”
Porter’s attorney argued that the prosecution wanted to “take him hostage for five cases and then torture him at his own trial,” with a “minefield” of possibilities for perjury, of which the state accused Porter in his own trial, frequently saying that he had lied on the stand.
The hearing was the first time that Sgt White, Lt Rice, and officers Nero and Miller have been before the judge with their lawyers.
“My reading of this is judge Williams wants the other trials to move forward,” said Douglas Colbert, a law professor at the University of Maryland. “But it is not often that these issues are decided in a way that hampers the prosecution.”
“As far as this court is concerned, we’re continuing,” Williams said before adjourning the court.
Gray’s death set off unrest that resulted in riots, a curfew, and an investigation of the Baltimore police department by the Department of Justice.
