The trial of Baltimore police officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. has been postponed by Maryland’s second highest court.
The case was set to get underway with jury selection Monday until a last minute order from the Court of Special Appeals. Circuit Judge Barry Williams announced Monday the appeals court stay and placed Goodson’s trial in recess.
The announcement comes following a series of legal filings last week in which Officer William Porter, the first officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, sought to block an order by a Circuit Court judge forcing him to testify in Goodson’s trial.
Porter’s trial in December ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked, and his next trial is not slated to begin until June. Chief Judge Peter Krauser wrote in the Court of Special Appeals order signed Monday that it was “presumably in the interest in all parties” that Porter’s appeal be resolved before Goodson’s trial got underway, according to the Baltimore Sun.
New dates for Goodson’s trial are now dependent when Porter’s appeal is resolved. The trial for all six officers charged in Gray’s arrest and death are set to happen in succession, so it is unclear how the postponement of Goodsons’ trial will impact the other trials.
Porter’s attorneys had argued that requiring him to testify at Goodson’s trial would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Judge Williams agreed, warning prosecutors that compelling Porter to testify “may change the game” if they intend to retry him.
Gray, 25, died while in a police transport van in April. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced May 1 the six officers involved in his arrest and subsequent death from a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury would be charged.
