Porter likely will face a retrial on June 13.
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The officer faces 30 years in prison if he’s convicted of the murder charge.
Nero was acquitted last month. But with no eye witnesses and very little physical evidence, experts say the government could be facing an uphill battle. Miller is scheduled to stand trial in July.
Riots erupted in Baltimore previous year after Gray’s funeral.
The death of Gray, who was black, ignited a wave of protests as debate surged nationwide over whether police use excessive force, particularly against African-Americans.
Gray, 25, was arrested when he fled officers unprovoked in a high-crime area. Once he was handcuffed and placed inside the van, witnesses have testified that Gray began to scream and kick so violently he shook the wagon. Shouting about his arrest, Gray was bundled into a police transport van while shackled and was not seat-belted, a violation of protocol. A few blocks away, the wagon stopped and three officers took him out, secured him in leg shackles and slid him back into the wagon’s compartment, head-first and on his belly. The wagon made three more stops before its final stop at the Western District station house.
Prosecutors will argue that as the van driver, Goodson was ultimately responsible for Gray’s safety.
Goodson faces the most serious charges: second-degree depraved-heart murder, second-degree assault, misconduct in office, involuntary manslaughter, manslaughter by vehicles (gross negligence), manslaughter by vehicle (criminal negligence) and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors say that Goodson was so negligent in his failure to buckle Gray into a seat belt that he disregarded the apparent risk to Gray’s life and wellbeing.
On what was scheduled to be the first day of the trial of Baltimore City Police Officer Caesar Goodson, Judge Barry Williams is scheduled to hold a hearing this morning over whether the charges should be dismissed.
“We’ve suffered so much already in the midst of this trial that we would hope that we would have had Baltimore City residents be part of a jury process, to have an opportunity to decide this officer’s guilt or innocence”, Witherspoon said Monday.
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James Cohen, a professor at Fordham University who has followed the case, said Goodson’s choice is unsurprising, and could be advantageous.
