Trial for Van Driver in Freddie Gray Case to Begin Jan. 11

(The Washington Post) —

The Baltimore trial for the second of six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray will begin with jury selection Jan. 11, five days later than it had initially been scheduled, according to a statement from the Maryland Court system.

Proceedings in the case against Officer Caesar Goodson, who faces a charge of second-degree murder, among others, will include a Jan. 6 hearing to consider pre-trial motions. Those could include a bid by his attorneys to move the high-profile case out of Baltimore. The same judge denied a similar attempt by the first defendant to be tried.

Gray died April 19, a week after he was chased down and arrested in West Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide from a spine injury that authorities said occurred while he was being transported in the back of a police van. His death sparked days of protests and a riot that put Baltimore under curfew for nearly a week.

The trial for the officer tried first, William G. Porter, ended in a mistrial. The most serious charge Porter faced was manslaughter.

Prosecutors put Porter on trial first because they were hoping he would be a key witness in Goodson’s trial. Goodson drove the police van in which Gray broke his neck.

During his trial, Porter testified that he told Goodson that Gray needed medical help during one of the van’s stops and interacted with him at others. That information would be an important part of the case against Goodson. Porter is scheduled to be retried June 13.

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