Trail Dates Set for Baltimore Police Officers Charged in Freddie Gray’s Death

Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on a courtroom bench just in front of the first row of reporters, five of the six officers charged in the Freddie Gray case conversed quietly with each other and their lawyers today.

Officer William Porter will be the first officer to be tried for the April death of Freddie Gray under the scheduling decision by Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams.

The six officers are being tried separately and face charges ranging from second-degree assault to second-degree “depraved-heart” murder.

Prosecutors have said Porter is a “necessary and material witness” in their cases against Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. and Sgt. Alicia D. White, and therefore must be tried before them.

But after Williams ordered separate trials earlier this month many believed that date would be postponed.

Gray, 25, was arrested on a weapons charge April 12 and suffered a severe spinal cord injury while being taken away in a police van, authorities said.

The trials of the five other officers will occur between January and March. Their trials will be held in February and March.

Williams cited the state’s need to try the officers in a specific order as his reason for granting the postponements over defense’s objections. A few police officers have said he was carrying a knife, but prosecutors say there was no legal basis for taking him into custody.

“Williams said that trying the officers together would not be “in the interest of justice” because key evidence that’s admissible with regards to one officer may be inadmissible for another”. His death led to protests, rioting and a curfew after people became angry over the police treatment of Gray.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Porter’s trial was pushed back following a request from the defense. “The officers are charged with a range of offenses, from murder to misconduct, as each played a different role in Gray’s arrest and transport”, The Baltimore Sun reported. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the prosecutor on the case, was not present.

Rice, Miller and Nero were dressed in dark suits; Goodson had on a black jacket and black rimmed glasses while White wore a black dress with red-rimmed glasses. Porter faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office.

Nero, Miller and Rice have asked that their reckless endangerment charges be tossed out because they are based exclusively on the allegation that they didn’t put a seat belt on Gray, which their attorneys contest is not a crime in Maryland.