Freddie Gray case: Maryland high court says Officer Porter must testify against all 5 co-defendants

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-appeals-court-ruling-freddie-gray-20160308-story.html

Maryland's highest court ruled in favor of prosecutors in the Freddie Gray cases Tuesday, ordering that Officer William Porter can be compelled to testify against his fellow officers.The rulings sent the cases back to the lower court to resume with trials, though a timetable was unclear.

The Court of Appeals turned back Porter's request that he not be compelled to testify against Officer Caesar Goodson and Sgt. Alicia White. It also reversed Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams' order denying prosecutors' request to call Porter to testify against three other officers, Edward Nero, Garrett Miller and Lt. Brian Rice.It was a big victory for the state, which argued that Porter's Fifth Amendment rights would not be violated by granting him immunity. His testimony at the trials can't be used at his own retrial on charges of manslaughter.  Prosecutors also had argued that Williams, the circuit court judge, wrongly blocked their authority when he ruled that they couldn't call Porter to testify at the Nero, Miller and Rice trials.

They had not previously said that Porter was considered a witness in those cases, and Williams said deciding to call him later was a stall tactic.It was not clear whether Porter's attorneys, Gary Proctor and Joseph Murtha, could try to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The cases were sent back to the trial court level, where the attorneys are barred from speaking by a gag order.William "Billy" Murphy Jr., the attorney for Gray's family, said prosecutors' request to call Porter was "straightforward" and the appeals court ruling was correct."The main issue," Murphy said, regarding whether Porter could be compelled to testify, "was not unprecedented.""The collateral issue, whether or not Judge Williams could go behind the state meeting the statutory requirements and deciding that he wouldn't let them call Porter — that was new," Murphy said.

The high court judges did not expound on the rulings, which came down in a two-page order less than a week after the judges heard arguments in Annapolis. More detailed orders were expected to be issued in the coming weeks.Rice's trial was rescheduled Tuesday for April 13, judiciary spokeswoman Terri Charles said. That date could change, Charles said, and it will be up to the court to set a schedule for the remaining trials.Williams originally set a schedule that put Porter's trial first. Jurors in his case deadlocked on all counts, and a mistrial was declared.

The court moved on to Goodson's case, with White's to follow, but that was upended when Porter appealed to the Court of Special Appeals.That moved up the trials of Nero, Miller and Rice. But when the state was denied its motion to compel Porter as a witness in those trials, prosecutors appealed and all five cases were halted and taken up by the Court of Appeals.Williams could resume the schedule with Nero's case, or revert back to Goodson's trial, which was next in line before any of the appeals occurred. It's also possible that Porter's retrial, which had been moved to the back of the line with a tentative date of June, could be moved up.Gray, 25, died after being arrested last April. The medical examiner's office said he suffered a severed spine while being transported without restraints in the back of a police arrest van. His death occurred amid heightened focus on deaths of black men in police custody, and touched off weeks of unrest that escalated to rioting.The six officers involved in Gray's arrest and death face charges including manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. All have pleaded not guilty.