Prosecutors are likely to hone in on an unexplained stop Goodson made on his way to the police station. Gray died April 19, a week after his neck was broken in the back of Goodson’s transport wagon.
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(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File).
The trial of the Baltimore police officer facing the most serious charges in the death of Freddie Gray will start Thursday, USA Today reports.
Baltimore Police Officer Caesar Goodson arrives at the Mitchell Courthouse-West in Baltimore Jan. 11, 2016, for jury selection in his trial regarding the death of Freddie Gray.
“He was injured because he got a ‘rough ride, ‘” Schatzow told Williams.
Opening statements are set for Thursday afternoon.
“There was no good reason for the defendant not to belt him in, except to bounce him around”, Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow said. He said prosecutors didn’t believe they were required to alert the defense to such a meeting. “It simply didn’t happen”.
Goodson’s field training officer Dennis Smith testified that he never taught Goodson how to seat belt combative prisoners.
Graham said Goodson – “a good officer, a gentle man, a nice guy” – didn’t belt Gray in because of his “violent and erratic behavior” that included screaming and kicking with such force that the wagon shook.
Allen previously had talked to police at the Western District homicide office in April 2015, saying that Gray had been thrashing around the van. The second-degree murder charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. He waived his right to a jury trial and opted to let a judge decide his fate. However, a stunning last minute motion to dismiss, based on a severe Brady violation from prosecutor Marilyn Mosby’s office, might just end the entire trial before it begins. If prosecutors fail to secure a guilty verdict, it will be the third straight trial in which they haven’t gotten a favorable decision: The first trial ended in a hung jury and the second finished with an acquittal last month. “Gray”, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said in May 2015. Two blocks from the arrest site, the wagon stopped again, and three officers took Gray out of the van to put him in leg shackles. They then placed him on the floor of the van, head-first and on his belly.
Reynolds testified that if a prisoner is having a medical emergency officers have a duty to call a medic.
Goodson’s defense attorney says Goodson followed the rules, and had no indication Gray needed medical aid. In cross-examination by Graham, Bartness said that officers were not trained in medical diagnoses and that department manuals said that officers could use their own discretion. “I’m telling you that this [evidence] needs to be considered”, Judge Williams told prosecutors.
“It was the result of a pressurized investigation”, Graham said.
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In Philadelphia, police in 2001 barred transportation of prisoners without padding or belts after The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the city had paid $2.3 million to settle lawsuits over rough rides that paralyzed two people.
