Here’s a summary of day two in the trial of police officer Edward Nero…
(Via Baltimore Sun)  Prosecutors spent much of the second day of Officer Edward Nero‘s trial trying to prove he was directly involved in Freddie Gray‘s detention and arrest — at times using Nero’s own statement to police investigators.
At one point Friday, Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow read from a transcript of Nero’s statement.
“I then see Officer [Garrett] Miller chasing the other suspect, and Officer Miller at this time is now on foot,” Nero said, according to Schatzow. “He has his Taser in his hand. He’s saying, ‘Stop or I’m going to tase you.’
“He never tases him. I guess the suspect seen me. He then — he then stops. He looked like he kind of like slipped. I don’t know what he did, but either way he stopped.”

“Miller and I, we got him in custody. Miller took out his cuffs; he cuffs him.” (more…)

Nero’s defense attorney Marc Zayon said his client had a limited role. Rice was out of Nero’s view when he called out over the radio that he was involved in a pursuit, and Officer Garrett Miller was the one who caught and handcuffed Gray, Zayon said. Miller was in control, at one point asking Nero to retrieve his bike from a few blocks away.

(Via The Baltimore Sun)  Attorneys for Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero sought to minimize his role in the arrest of Freddie Gray on the first day of his trial, saying he pursued the 25-year-old based on a supervisor’s calls for help and only touched him to try to find his inhaler.
Nero’s bench trial began Thursday in a downtown courtroom with prosecutors saying the officers who detained Gray on April 12, 2015 lacked legal justification, making his arrest an assault. Legal observers have said it is an unusual theory, and the case is expected to involve complex arguments about the authority of officers to stop citizens.
The trial, which could last five days, also involves allegations that Nero failed to care for Gray when he did not secure him with a seat belt in the back of the arrest van, where he ultimately suffered a fatal spine injury. (more…)

Update to THIS STORY – Nero is also anticipated to request a bench trial, without jury.

BALTIMORE SUN – Baltimore prosecutors have asked that the trial of Officer Edward Nero be pushed back one day after their offices were shut down for utility work over the weekend.
Nero is the second officer to go to trial in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, and proceedings are slated to begin Tuesday with pre-trial motions. His trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Prosecutors said in a motion filed Friday that they were told by BGE that their offices at 120 E. Baltimore St. would be shut down and without power from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday. The work would also prevent the trial team from remotely accessing files, “effectively and unexpectedly halting final case preparations during the important last days before trial.” (read more)

Approximately three weeks before the arrest of Freddie Gray the state attorney,Marilyn Mosby, asked police to target an intersection in Baltimore (around the Gilmore Homes housing area) for  “enhanced” drug enforcement efforts. 

Officer Edward Nero and Officer Garrett E. Miller were conducting a bicycle patrol around Gilmore Homes when they made eye contact with Freddie Gray, who took off running. The officers pursued Gray and caught him.  Gray was restrained and handcuffed, and they found a “spring assisted” knife on his belt.  An arrest van was called to the scene, Gray was put in the van for transport to Central Booking.
According to a medical autopsy, Freddie Gray suffered an apparent severe spinal injury (self-inflicted) in the van and died after being transported to the hospital. 
(more…)

The Maryland Appeals Court has stepped in to halt the trial against Officer Caesar Goodson on the day jury selection was scheduled to begin.   In an earlier appellate court ruling the forced testimony of accused police officer William Porter was blocked.  The State’s cases are falling apart due to inept legal application and ideological motives to prosecute.

Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby is now claiming without Porter’s testimony her cases against both Caesar Goodson and Alicia White will not stand:

[…] not being able to call Porter as a witness would “result in irreparable harm to the People of Maryland by effectively gutting their government’s prosecution” of two of the officers. (link)

On its face this is an absolutely absurd position.  (more…)

Baltimore Six Trial Update – As many readers expected, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals Chief Judge Peter B. Krauser placed an immediate “stay” on an earlier ruling by Baltimore Judge Williams which was forcing officer William Porter to testify in the case against officer Caesar Goodson.

The higher court “stayed Judge William’s ruling”. That means the Williams order is temporarily suspended until the higher court can make a ruling determining if the decision violates Porter’s constitutional rights.

[…]  The order does not call for the trial of Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. to be postponed as the matter is worked out. Jury selection is scheduled for Monday. (link)

Judge Williams was so far beyond wrong in his judicial decision, driven entirely by ideology, it is intensely doubtful the full appeals court would/will allow such an obvious violation of Porter’s fifth amendment right.

It would appear Mayor Stephanie “space-to-destroy” Rawlings-Blake ended up with more human destruction than originally intended; or, perhaps not.

BALTIMORE SUN – Blood was shed in Baltimore at an unprecedented pace in 2015, with mostly young, black men shot to death in a near-daily crush of violence.

On a per-capita basis, the year was the deadliest ever in the city. The year’s tally of 344 homicides was second only to the record 353 in 1993, when Baltimore had about 100,000 more residents.

The killings were on pace with recent years in the early months of 2015 but skyrocketed after the unrest and rioting of late April. In five of the next eight months, killings topped 30 or 40 a month. (more…)

The Baltimore prosecution team did not turn over an investigative memo to defense attorneys outlining knowledge of a prior back injury claimed by Freddie Gray.  Defense attorneys now want to explore the previously undisclosed information.

BALTIMORE – Attorneys for Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. have filed in court an internal police document in which officers wrote that Freddie Gray once complained of a back problem, as part of the defense’s effort to gain access to Gray’s medical records.

The document had been previously sealed, after Judge Barry Williams ruled that prosecutors failed to disclose it to defense attorneys for Officer William G. Porter until his trial was underway last month. Porter’s case ended in a mistrial when jurors failed to reach a verdict. (more…)

The Baltimore prosecution team led by Marily Mosby have announced their intention to retry the case against William Porter on June 13th, 2016.  Oddly the trial against Caesar Goodson is still scheduled to begin on Jan 6th.

(Via Baltimore Sun) Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter will be retried in the death of Freddie Gray on June 13, according to court officials.

Porter’s first trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office ended last week with a hung jury on all four counts, leading Judge Barry G. Williams to declare a mistrial. (more…)

Back in May 2015 we presented the following consideration. Against today’s news, we are presenting it again:

(May 2nd 2015) The professional grievance crowd has all of the Marxist planets aligned. They have the DNC approved black female mayor Stephanie Rawlings; they have their rock star activist attorney Marilyn Mosby, and they have a strategically planned opportunity to win by losing. (more…)