Patty Bauer, a police expert who gave in-service traffic safety training to police.
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Taylor fired back that her notes were accurate and that Deputy State’s Attorney Janice Bledsoe, one of the prosecutors handling the case, lacked integrity.
From the arrested man who rode in the van with 25-year-old Freddie Gray to the lead detective’s testimony about what the medical examiner initially thought caused Gray’s death, the case against Officer Caesar Goodson is a convoluted narrative, with the reliability of witnesses constantly under heavy fire. He could not say for sure that Goodson engaged in a rough ride, despite video footage in which Goodson runs a stop sign and makes a turn where he crosses the dividing line.
“I think an important part of the story, to be honest, is not simply whether or not ultimately the prosecution is going to get a conviction here but, in a larger sense, what kinds of evidence came out about both prosecutorial conduct and police conduct that raise sort of significant challenges for us as a society and for politicians and policy makers in general”, said David Jaros, a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Schatzow asked Taylor who else from the police department was with her when Allan allegedly said Gray’s death was a “freakish accident”. “I had an open mind, and after reading the medical records and performing the autopsy, that’s when I said, this is not an accident”, Allan testified last week. Schatzow also suggested that Taylor and other top police officials had pushed Allen to rule Gray’s death an accident rather than a homicide. Taylor told him that she was not removed and that she, with her superior, decided not to talk to prosecutors anymore. Taylor said Bledsoe had “a tantrum” during a review of documents. Schatzow retorted that Bledsoe had made her own allegations about Taylor’s integrity.
Bauer said she did not know.
“No one was suggesting anything to her”, Taylor testified.
Goodson, 46, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree depraved heart murder, three counts of manslaughter and related charges.
The defense rested their case just before 11:30 Friday after brief testimony from Officer Edward Nero, who was acquitted of all charges in the arrest of Gray last month.
The court also heard testimony from Donta Allen, the arrestee who rode on the other side of a thin metal partition from Gray in the van during the final leg of the ride through West Baltimore.
Prosecutors contend Gray was given a “rough ride”, causing the injuries from which he died a week later.
Nero said that after Gray was placed in the van he was banging, yelling and screaming and he saw Gray violently shake the transport van.
The state called a total of 21 witnesses over five days.
He also told the prosecutor that while the van door was closed, he can not remember if Goodson closed the door.
The manslaughter trial of Officer William Porter ended in a hung jury in December, and he faces retrial in September.
The defense has rested at the second degree murder trial of Officer Caesar Goodson. He was loaded into a police van to be taken to jail.
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The accusations were triggered by the judge’s finding that prosecutors violated discovery rules – for the second time in the trial – by not turning over Taylor’s notes about discussions with Allan.
