The last-minute order from the Court of Special Appeals followed a series of legal filings last week in which Officer William Porter sought to block a Circuit Court judge’s order forcing him to testify at Goodson’s trial in the death of Freddie Gray.
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Mike Hellgren has more on the reason for the delay and what happens next.
“It could take weeks; it could take months”, said Warren Alperstein.
A Maryland court of appeals postponed the trial of Caesar Goodson Jr., the police van driver who has been linked to the murder of Freddie Gray.
However, the Court of Special Appeals ruled that the trial would be postponed due to a pending appeal in the case, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“The Fifth Amendment creates a privilege against compelled disclosures that could implicate a witness in criminal activity and thus subject him or her to criminal prosecution”, Porter’s attorneys wrote.
Goodson drove the van that carried Freddie Gray to the Western District on April 12.
He is the only one of six officers charged in Gray’s death not to speak to police investigators.
Prosecutors are expected to focus part of their case on when Goodson stopped the van when it reached Mount and North Freemont Streets, and checked on Gray.
The trial for Baltimore police officer Caesar R. Goodson gets underway Monday at a downtown courthouse. To be convicted, prosecutors must prove that Goodson was so callous in his disregard for Gray’s life that he deliberately allowed him to die. It is unclear how the postponement of Goodson’s trial may impact the scheduling in the trials of the other officers.
Porter’s trial on involuntary manslaughter and other charges ended in hung jury in December.
The last-minute decision came as jury selection was about to start in Goodson’s trial – the second of six court cases stemming from Mr Gray’s police custody death last April. The witness is Neill Franklin, a former Baltimore police officer and Maryland state trooper.
Porter’s attorneys filed for an injunction Thursday, asking the appeals court to “stay the Order to Compel Porter’s testimony until such times as the interlocutory appeal is adjudicated”.
Porter’s lawyers say he risks going to jail for contempt if he refuses an order to testify, but if he does testify, he could be charged with perjury if he makes any statements that differ from what he said or will say in his own defense.
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“I have some doubts that ruling will stand up on appeal because it was very hard to ensure that someone’s rights are protected when they are given use immunity instead of transactional immunity”, John Banzhaf, professor of public interest law at George Washington University, tells The Daily Caller News Foundation.
