Judge to hear motion to force officer testimony in Gray case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Judge to hear motion to force officer testimony in Gray case

Juliet Linderman, Associated Press

Updated 5:29 am, Wednesday, January 20, 2016

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore judge will hear motions Wednesday from prosecutors who want to force an officer whose trial ended in mistrial late last year to testify against four other officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

Prosecutors are asking Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams to force William Porter to testify against four officers even though Porter's charges are still pending after his own trial ended in December in a hung jury.

Williams ruled in late December that Porter must testify against van driver Caesar Goodson, whose trial was slated to begin last week. But Goodson's trial has been postponed indefinitely while an appeals court decides whether to uphold or overturn Williams' ruling.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Judge-to-hear-motion-to-force-officer-testimony-6771064.php

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[TipTok]

1. How can they force him to testify...

... if they are going after him again during a retrial?

[24601]

2. Good catch. That is precisely the question before the court. The state has granted Use Immunity

which covers only excluding his testimony in the State case he is facing in a retrial.

It's clear cut that he must testify if he receives Transactional (full) Immunity from any future State and Federal cases. If his testimony is really that important, they need to go that route.

[Yupster]

3. Yeah, he'd be crazy to testify

if there are still charges against him.

[TipTok]

4. This is why the prosecutors were banking on a conviction the first time around...

They needed him for everyone else

[branford]

5. Freddie Gray trial to resume after judge denies motion to force officer to testify

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/20/freddie-gray-trial-resume-baltimore-police-william-porter

Porter will not have to testify, the cases against the other officers must proceed expeditiously as originally planned, and Judge Williams appears somewhat annoyed at the prosecution's delay tactics.

At this point, I would not be surprised if we've witnessing the implosion of all the Gray-related prosecutions due largely to incompetence by Baltimore prosecutors.