Freddie Gray Murder Trial Postponed

The Court of Special Appeals agreed on Friday to a motion by Porter’s lawyers to temporarily halt William’s order.

A Baltimore appeals court has issued a delay in the trial of Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., one of the six officers charged with the April death of Freddie Gray.

Jury selection was supposed to begin at Porter’s trial today, but Judge Barry Williams announced a recess in the case. Goodson was with Gray for every second of his 45-minute trip from the site of his arrest to the Western District police station, where Gray arrived critically injured and unresponsive. He has not spoken with investigators or made any public comments.

Porter was tried in December on charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. He also said Goodson had objected to a continuance.

In that motion, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby asked that Goodson’s trial be delayed, or barring that Mosby asked they be allowed to retry Porter, before Goodson and White go on trial.

“The bell can not be unrung”, wrote defense attorney Gary Proctor in his filing, according to AP.

His order is unprecedented in Maryland and could have tremendous implications for future cases with multiple defendants. Officer Caesar Goodson, who drove the van in which Gray is believed to have suffered the fatal injuries, faces the most serious charges of any of the six indicted officers. “I need to check this prisoner out”, Goodson said on a radio call, to which Porter responded.

Porter’s defense, anxious the testimony could still hurt his chances in a retrial, appealed the decision to the state.

“Despite stopping for the goal of checking on Mr. Gray’s condition, at no point did he seek nor did he render any medical assistance for Mr. Gray”, prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said a year ago.

Goodson, they say, bears the most responsibility because as the van driver, Gray was technically in his custody. If convicted, he could receive up to 30 years behind bars. Even if prosecutors do not explicitly reference facts from Porter’s testimony, Porter claims, they may use the information gleaned from it to build a stronger case against him. He attributed Gray’s death to the fact that he did not secure his seatbelt. Under these circumstances Porter naturally decided that he would assert his 5th Amendment right to decline to testify on the grounds that his testimony might incriminate him for purposes of both future state and federal prosecution.