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Friday, January 29, 2016

Porter Attorneys Say Forcing Client To Testify Is Unprecedented

The attorneys for Baltimore City Police Officer William Porter have filed a nearly 50-page argument with the Court of Special Appeals arguing that their client should not be forced to testify at trials of Officer Caesar Goodson and Sgt. Alicia White, two other officers charged in the April death of Freddie Gray.

Porter's own trial ended in a mistrial last month, when the jury could not reach a verdict on any of the four charges against him. Porter's retrial is set for June 13.

Goodson's trial was postponed earlier this month, after Porter's attorneys appealed the order forcing their client to testify at Goodson's trial

They argue that Porter's rights under both the U.S. and Maryland Constitution would be violated if he were forced to testify.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Take the 5th.

Anonymous said...

Mosby's case is sooo weak that they need this guy to incriminate himself and his fellow officers in order to get a conviction!

Here's what you get when jobs are filled using a quota system instead of a qualification system.

We're still suffering from the worst failure of affirmative action in history - electing a president because he is a minority member. I hope we don't collectively make the same mistake by electing a woman this time around for the same reason... Yes this applies to both women running in this cycle - one of you should be in jail and the other one has already proven that she can't run anything bigger than a lemonaid stand!

Anonymous said...

Joe stop screening out all the post that don't agree with your political views please. It would be nice to have both sides and open debate. You used to run it that way. Kinda getting old all this one sided stuff

JoeAlbero said...

8:26, IF your comment was rejected, you were out of line.

Anonymous said...

I don't think taking the 5th is a good idea.

Anonymous said...

9:44-Under normal circumstances I would agree,but to take or not to take the fifth is a close call in this case.Personally,I don't think this should have gone to trial to begin with.

Anonymous said...

Civil case at best. These six officers have been put on display to help Mosby and Blake's agenda. If you look Mosby's hubby is running for political office on a higher level now. They march to Ohblahblah's drum. It is criminal what they have done. These men and women if cleared need to sue for 6 million if it was good enough for Freddy it is good enough for them.

Yep three white cops and three black cops conspired to kill this guy. I do not think so.

Anonymous said...


Re: Taking the 5th. My understanding is that prosecution is seeking to suppress his use of the 5th and to compel his testimony against the other officers, which will put him in jeopardy when he is retried.

I think they can offer him an immunity against prosecution in exchange for his testimony, in which case he would have to testify since he would no longer be in jeopardy. But they want his conviction too for their trophy case so they have not offered immunity.

The whole sorry spectacle is a travesty. Feel badly for the officers; while not perfect anywhere, they come into contact with the Freddies of the world each day so people in the communities are less threatened.