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Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Late Drama Nearly Derails Officer William Porter's Trial

The trial of Officer William Porter will continue, after new evidence was brought to late Monday that briefly threw the trial into question.

The defense will be able to use statements apparently made by a detective who said Freddie Gray complained of a back injury while being questioned in an unrelated incident in March. The detective noticed Gray was leaning one way and not sitting up straight, and Gray said that was why. The statement does not say whether or not the detective believed Gray's explanation.

The injury had been brought up in news reports since Gray's death but nothing concrete about the injury had appeared in evidence. The defense became aware over the weekend of the statements, which they see as exculpatory evidence, but the prosecution didn't know of the statements until Monday, when they were informed by two prosecutors not involved in the case. A bench conference was held after the jury left for the night. Judge Barry Williams believed prosecutor Michael Schatzow, and did not sanction him. Williams could have dismissed the case entirely. The judge has ordered the matter sealed.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Assistant ME Carol Allan said she does not believe 2nd passenger Donta Allen heard Gray intentionally banging around because it would have been inconsistent with the injury occurring between the second and fourth stops.

In other words, she simply ignored evidence that was inconsistent with her preconceived 'theory'..

Anonymous said...

It would be good for the city if the prosecutors showed such zeal in prosecuting criminals.
Just think of all the SAO's resources and personnel that will be tied up with these six trials until at least the middle of March of next year.
They'll be cutting deals left and right with the real criminals just to clear their schedule and docket.

Anonymous said...

morning court so far-waste of time. blood stains found on seat, seatbelt, wall Gray's. big deal no one's disputing something happened in van. witnesses couldn't testify as to van chain of custody on cross.
expert witness now on stand expert in police procedure from Missouri. testified request for seat belt/medic when asked are proper.
waste of time because defense has already brought to light that gray never asked for seatbelt or medic. he was asked if he needed a medic to which he replied in the affirmative. arrangements had been made to take him to bon secours hospital before this could occur he stopped breathing

Anonymous said...

wow wow wow. the state has rested it's case! jury dismissed for the day

Anonymous said...

states rested defense made motion for judgment of acquittal based on state failed to show sufficient evidence. denied
defense argued state had failed to show porter displayed gross deliberate indifference to gray's well being.
defense said state had glossed over porter telling goodson and white gray needed medic
state said claims by defense that officers don't seatbelt detainees is not the standard
reasonable officers follows orders not directives
said porter did nothing when he could have saved a man's life

Anonymous said...

City fire paramedic Angelique Herbert testified that she responded to a call for an arm injury and was directed to the van. She saw several officers standing around the van, and Gray in the back, his head turned to the side with his eyes staring straight ahead. He was unresponsive and not breathing.
She added that Gray was on his knees, with Porter and another officer holding his head up. She called for backup.
So he was not in the same position he was not laying down with his head facing the back as he was at the last stop . This will give credence to Donta Allen’s statement that he was up banging around on the last leg of the trip and injured himself. If so, medical help was given as soon as Officers discovered the injury. The dispatcher incorrectly telling the medics a broken arm (confused another call) contributed to the delay. Since the state is basing this thing on denial of care , that won't go so well for them . Face it Mosby dreamed this up to stop the riots.