A vicious clash between a Baltimore police investigator and a lead prosecutor was laid bare in open court on Thursday during the closely watched murder trial over the death of Freddie Gray.
The tense exchange between homicide detective Dawnyell Taylor, called as a witness, and Michael Schatzow, chief deputy state’s attorney, was the latest dramatic episode in the prosecution of officer Caesar Goodson – who faces murder charges for Gray’s death.
Taylor took the stand to testify that the state medical examiner, Carol Allan, had described Gray’s death as “like a freakish accident” where “no human hand caused the death”.
But Allan had testified earlier that the word “accident” never crossed her lips.
And when Schatzow questioned Taylor on cross-examination, he raised his own personal battle with Taylor:
“You’re aware you were removed from the investigation at my request when I accused you of sabotaging the investigation?” he said.
“I’m aware you made the request, but you don’t have the authority to remove me,” Taylor answered stonily. Under further questioning she revealed that she had remained the lead investigator and maintained the case files, although she no longer interacted with the state’s attorney’s office.
The questioning and testimony went on to reveal a conflict that started between Taylor and Janice Bledsoe, one of the main prosecutors in the Freddie Gray cases. Schatzow and Taylor went back and forth over Taylor’s conduct during a series of meetings.
The exchange was tense as Taylor and Bledsoe stared icily at one another. “My problems with Ms Bledsoe were about her integrity,” Taylor said.
“She made some allegations about your integrity,” Schatzow rejoined.
Defense attorney Steve Beatty wonders how such accusations will affect future cases.
“Now that the deputy of the Baltimore city state’s attorney, acting in his official capacity, has stated publicly that he believes that officer Taylor … has invented evidence after the fact, how can any prosecutor in good faith ever call detective Taylor as a witness in any case, ever again?” he asked, adding that the state should dismiss all cases in which Taylor is an essential witness.
Goodson, the driver of the van in which Gray is said to have sustained a fatal spine injury, is the third of six officers to be tried over Gray’s death. He is considered by many as state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s best shot at a conviction, after two prior cases failed to yield one. Earlier in the trial, the prosecution suffered several other blows to its case, as a key expert witness declined to confirm that Goodson had given Gray a “rough ride” and Judge Barry Williams berated prosecutors for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Judge Williams denied the defense motion to dismiss all charges for insufficient evidence, but he did call the second degree depraved heart murder charge a “closer case” viewed in the light most favorable to the state. He questioned the entire theory of the “rough ride” after the prosecution’s expert witness testimony.
