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U.S. NEWS A5
Monday 11 January 2016
2nd Baltimore officer to go on trial in Gray case
JULIET LINDERMAN Caesar Goodson, right, arrives at Courthouse East, in Baltimore for a motions hearing ahead of his
Associated Press trial. Goodson drove the police transport van where Freddie Gray was critically injured. Prosecu-
BALTIMORE (AP) — A po- tors want William Porter, whose trial ended in a mistrial last month, to testify against Goodson and
lice van driver will be the Sgt. Alicia White.
second Baltimore officer to
go on trial in the death of (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
a black man who suffered bears the most responsibil-
fatal injuries during the trip ity because as the wagon
from the site of his arrest to driver, Gray was technical-
a police station. ly in his custody.
Caesar Goodson was with Prosecutors have revealed
Freddie Gray for every sec- little about the case they
ond of his 45-minute trip to plan to present against
the Western District police Goodson, who is also black,
station, where Gray ar- but in a pretrial hearing last
rived critically injured and week they said they would
unresponsive. But Good- call a witness who special-
son’s account of what izes in “retaliatory prisoner
happened on that day transport practices,” indi-
remains a mystery: He is cating they intend to bring
the only one of six officers up the possibility that Gray
charged in Gray’s death received a “rough ride” in
not to speak to investiga- the van. During the hear-
tors. His trial, which begins ing, defense attorneys ar-
Monday, will offer the pub- gued that prosecutors had
lic its first chance to hear introduced “a new legal
Goodson’s side of the sto- theory or area of testimony
ry. Goodson was behind at the proverbial eleventh
the wheel of the van that hour.” The witness is Neill
carried Gray to six differ- Franklin, a former Baltimore
ent locations while he was police officer and Mary-
handcuffed and shackled land state trooper.
but unrestrained in the rear. But prosecutors’ plans
He faces the most serious were complicated this
charge of all — second- week when Baltimore Cir-
degree murder, which car- cuit Judge Barry Williams
ries a maximum sentence ruled that Porter must tes-
of 30 years in prison. To be tify as a state’s witness
convicted, prosecutors against Goodson, despite
must prove that Goodson Porter’s claim that he has
was so callous in his disre- a right not to incriminate
gard for Gray’s life that he himself.
deliberately allowed him An appeals court tempo-
to die. Last month, Officer rarily halted the decision to
William Porter’s trial ended force Porter to testify until it
with a hung jury, making can reach a final ruling.
the stakes for Goodson’s Whether Goodson takes
trial even higher in a city the stand could depend
still on edge from the riot- on whether Porter is called
ing and unrest in April that as a witness, and is com-
followed Gray’s death. pelled to testify.q
Gray, a young black man,
died April 19, a week after
he broke his neck in po-
lice custody. His death ex-
posed the deep divide be-
tween the public and the
police in Baltimore, and
became a national symbol
of the Black Lives Matter
movement protesting po-
lice treatment of minority
communities.
Prosecutors say the officers
should be held account-
able for Gray’s fatal inju-
ries because they didn’t
buckle him into a seat belt,
nor did they call an ambu-
lance when he indicated
he needed medical atten-
tion. Goodson, they say,
