According to ABC News, trial judge Barry Williams ruled last week that Porter would have to testify in the case, despite the officer’s argument that doing so would violate his right to not incriminate himself.
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Originally slated for today, Officer Caesar Goodson Jr.’s trial over the death of Freddie Gray has been shelved until further notice by a state appeals court.
So we are done.
The Court of Special Appeals agreed on Friday to a motion by Porter’s lawyers to temporarily halt William’s order.
The state had filed a motion for continuance. There is no way to tell when that could be.
The trial of one of the Baltimore police officers charged with Freddie Gray’s death has been postponed.
Goodson drove the van that transported Gray to several stops in West Baltimore when Gray’s injury occurred last April.
Based on the essential need for Porter to testify and the hung jury, the prosecution should have offered full immunity to Porter in exchange for his truthful testimony against the van driver – the most culpable defendant.
Porter’s testimony is important to the prosecution of Goodson, who allegedly stopped the van after making a quick, sharp turn, looked in the back and then called for help.
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 case ended with a mistrial last month. Now the case can not proceed until that appeals court rules on Porter’s eligibility to be forced to testify as he awaits his own trial. Officer Goodson faces the most serious charges of the officers charged – second-degree depraved heart murder. Goodson, they say, bears the most responsibility because as the wagon driver, Gray was technically in his custody.
Prosecutors have revealed little about their case against Goodson, but their witness list includes a former police officer who can describe “retaliatory prisoner transport practices”, suggesting they intend to raise the possibility that Gray was given a “rough ride” in the van.
During the hearing, defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had introduced “a new legal theory or area of testimony at the proverbial eleventh hour”.
Cameras are prohibited in court in the State of Maryland.
Prosecutors and the officers’ defense attorneys are forbidden from discussing the case by a gag order imposed by Williams.
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Jury selection had been set to start Monday in Baltimore in the trial of Caesar Goodson.
