Bernie Sanders to stop in Baltimore

Attorneys for an officer charged with manslaughter in Freddie Gray’s death sought Monday to discredit a state official’s autopsy report, saying it was only a theory.

Defense attorneys say it is incomplete and speculative.

“If the paramedic had gotten there, he would not have suffered the brain injury that ultimately killed him”, he testified.

The hearing was repeatedly described by reporters as heated, with the judge, who is Black, even threatening to hold one of the defense lawyers in contempt. The judge also replaced a Black female juror on Monday with a white male due to an undisclosed medical emergency.

The trial for Officer William Porter continues as the assistant medical examiner takes the stand again-this as the jury makeup changed at the last minute. His testimony in the case of Dondi Johnson, a Baltimore man who was arrested in 2005 for public urination, left paralyzed after riding in the back of a police van and died two weeks later, helped Johnson’s family win a $7.4 million settlement against the city. In the document, Gray told a detective he couldn’t sit up straight in a chair because, “I hurt my back”.

After re-taking the stand, Allan faced renewed questions as to how she had established her timeline for Gray’s injury, which she said happened between the second and fourth of five total stops the van made after Gray was loaded into it. According to Allan, it was Gray’s own words and actions, as reported by Porter and others, that had provided the evidence.

The opening of the first trial’s second week began with the testimony from a medical examiner.

None of the officers in the case moved to place Gray in a seat belt for his safety. He could be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Murtha also asked Soriano if he could testify that Porter had “extensive knowledge” of Gray’s injuries.

Baltimore Police officer William Porter approaches the court House in Baltimore, Maryland, November 30, 2015. He has been among the few demonstrators to show up daily. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

He is the first of six Baltimore police officers to face trial in Mr. Gray’s April death, which triggered rioting in the largely black city and intensified a US debate on the use of excessive force by police against minorities.

Sanders’ visit coincides with the trial for Officer William Porter, one of six Baltimore Police officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, for whom the empowerment center is named.

Gray was arrested April 12 and died a week later from a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by the spinal injury.

A medical examiner testified that his death was a murder and that Gray perished by a neck injury.

The defense has said Porter did not believe Gray was seriously injured until he was found unconscious at the police station.