State's highest court intervenes in Freddie Gray case, halting trials pending review

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In a rare move, Maryland's highest court agreed Thursday to halt trial proceedings against the Baltimore police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case, taking up competing appeals on whether Officer William G. Porter can be compelled to testify against his five fellow defendants.

The Court of Appeals' decision to consider the issue of Porter's testimony against his fellow officers postpones their trials, including one that had been scheduled to start Monday. The high court will hear expedited oral arguments in the appeals March 3, but it is unclear when it might rule.Porter is contesting an order by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams forcing him to testify against two fellow officers even as he faces a retrial in his case. Meanwhile, prosecutors appealed a decision by Williams that they contend wrongly blocked them from calling Porter to testify against three other officers.

Typically, appeals are heard after a case concludes, with appellate judges reviewing whether proper decisions were made."It's very unusual to have a pretrial ruling that is appealed like this," said Howard S. Chasanow, a retired Court of Appeals judge.But Chasanow said the high court's intervention could bring a quicker resolution to the cases in the long run, settling contentious issues now instead of allowing them to play out in Circuit Court and then be appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court.