It was reported earlier this week that the trial of Baltimore police officer Edward M. Nero for charges in the death of Freddie Gray would begin February 22. However, new developments and an appeal from prosecutors that has been criticized by some as a stalling measure have thrown that timeline and the timeline of the remaining five trials in disarray. The Baltimore Sun reports:
Prosecutors intend to appeal a recent court decision not to force Officer William G. Porter to testify in the trials of three other officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, according to court documents. [...]
Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams rejected on Jan. 20 a request by the prosecutors to call Porter to the witness stand in the trial of Officer Edward M. Nero — set to begin later this month — and the trials of Officer Garrett E. Miller and Lt. Brian W. Rice, currently scheduled for early March. In doing so, Williams questioned prosecutors' motives, saying they appeared to have a "dual purpose" for making the late request — one being to stall the trials. [...]
A separate decision by Williams to compel Porter to the stand in the trials of two other officers — Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. and Sgt. Alicia D. White — has already stalled those trials, after the Court of Special Appeals agreed to consider an appeal of that decision by Porter's attorneys. The higher court will not hear Porter's appeal until March, and could take months to decide.
The trials of the six officers allegedly involved in Gray’s death were originally scheduled to run consecutively starting with Porter’s. However the mistrial declared in his trial had a ripple effect on the others. A plea deal or guilty verdict for Porter would have rendered him unable to take the fifth against the other officers. However, Williams’ order to compel him to testify in Goodson’s and White’s trials—along with Porter’s, the trials with the most severe charges—and the subsequent appeal moved Goodson and White’s trials, as well as Porter’s retrial to new times pending a Court of Appeals decision.
The appeal by prosecutors will at least have the effect of further complicating the proceedings. Nero is charged with misdemeanors, including assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment in the arrest of Freddie Gray.