Officer William Porter trial: Freddie Gray case live coverage
Thanks for following our coverage of the trial of William Porter. We'll resume coverage on this live blog when new developments in the case occur.
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.@iduncan Cell phone video shows Porter exiting car and looking at #FreddieGray behind police van. see video: fw.to/OX4P1GXby Catherine Rentz via twitter 12/3/2015 9:00:03 PM -
Clash is over whether Ross's cell phone video shows how close Porter was at that point or whether he was only there brieflyby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 8:47:16 PM
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Brandon Ross stepped down from the witness stand at one point to show how police had Freddie Gray on his knees at Mount and Bakerby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 8:46:14 PM
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Tears from Freddie Gray's mother as the arrest video was shown
Brandon Ross, 31, one of Gray's friends with him prior to his arrest, took the stand as prosecutors introduced two separate videos of Gray's arrest -- one from Presbury Street, and one from Baker Street, where Gray had his legs shackled.After one of the videos that Ross took of Gray being shackled and people in the neighborhood reacting -- "You could hear yo screaming!" one woman yelled toward the end of the video -- Gray's mother let out a sob and broke into tears. She was quickly escorted out of the courtroom, along with other family members.
Williams immediately called a recess.
Ross, still on the stand, broke into tears as well. He stood, and walked off into the rear corner of the courtroom, with Bledsoe following him. He then walked out of the courtroom as well.
Gray's family and Ross returned to the courtroom soon after.
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Little side scene: Marilyn Mosby passed out water in paper cups to Feddie Gray's friends and family before taking one herself.by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 8:01:14 PM
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The jury saw the cell phone video of Freddie Gray being arrested at Gilmor Homes for the first time
The video -- and others that soon surfaced -- helped attract attention to the case and witnesses raised questions about whether Gray had been badly beaten during his arrest.
But as the investigators' focus shifted to what happened inside the van during Gray's 45 minute ride, prosecutors want to use the videos to show that Gray was able to move himself during the arrest.
The video was introduced during the testimony of Gray's friend Brandon Ross, who was with him the morning he was arrested.
"I grew up with him in my neighborhood," Ross said. "Sandtown-Winchester community."
Ross said he had known Gray for 10 years: "We were like brothers."
Ross said the pair were off to see a man about a carpentry job, but when they rounded the corner from North Avenue onto Mount Street Gray took off.
"As we was turning the corner, Freddie started running," Ross said. The next time he saw Gray was when he was in the custody of police.
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After one video, Gray's mother breaks down crying. Escorted out. Ross breaks down on stand. Recess called.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 7:52:00 PM -
Brandon Ross, Gray's good friend with him that morning, took stand. Videos from that morning showed.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 7:51:01 PM
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Court has apparently taken a recess because Freddie Gray's family got emotional when the cell phone videos were shownby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 7:47:51 PM
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Jury had just seen the first cell phone video of Freddie Gray being arrested at Gilmor Homesby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 7:40:57 PM
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The day that Freddie Gray was arrested: Brandon Ross
On the chilly early morning of April 12, Freddie Gray walked along North Avenue's wide sidewalk with two friends. Davonte Roary, Brandon Ross and Gray called each other "brothers." They had grown up around West Baltimore's Gilmor Homes complex and were meeting for breakfast.
Most of the events that morning have been well documented. Gray, 25, was chased by police officers, arrested and loaded into a transport van.
Authorities have said little about what happened before Gray was arrested, but Baltimore Sun interviews with his friends shed light on those events — and on the friends themselves. Roary, 20, ran with Gray but was not arrested. Ross, 31, did not run and recorded some of Gray's transport with a cellphone, the last known footage of him still conscious.
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The 45-minute mystery of Freddie Gray's death
Freddie Gray, 25, first made eye contact with a Baltimore Police lieutenant at 8:39 a.m. on the cool morning of April 12. At 9:24 a.m., a medic unit was called to the Western District police station, where Gray was in “serious medical distress” from a severe spinal injury. What happened in the 45 minutes in between largely remains a mystery, though local residents who say they witnessed moments along the way say Gray's arrest and officers' subsequent enforcement of it were anything but normal.
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Jury sees the van
Just before lunch, the jury was allowed to see the police van into which Freddie Gray was loaded on April 12, Judge Barry G. Williams said.
While the jury saw the van up-close, it will not be entered into evidence, the judge said. Crime scene photographs of the van have been admitted.
"No questions were asked by the jurors," Williams said, and no other information was presented during the viewing.
The trial continues this afternoon. -
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Judge Williams is currently denying media access to jury viewing van. Media, myself included, have tried to get vigorous objections to him.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 6:25:42 PM
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Defense continued strategy, thru cross, of painting BPD as bumbling agency that made policies unclear for young officers like Porter.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 6:24:06 PM
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Prosecution continued to try to show thru testimony that BPD policies in place, had Porter followed them, would've prevented Gray's death.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 6:22:23 PM
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Four of five morning witnesses were from BPD, one was city CCTV maintenance employee.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 6:21:03 PM
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The van in the Freddie Gray case
The police van where Freddie Gray suffered his fatal injury was wheeled into the garage of the court house on a tow truck.
The van, given the departmental ID 119581, has rows of seat belts in the back, prosecutors have said, but they allege officer William Porter didn't use them, contributing to Gray sustaining a fatal injury.
The jurors will be taken down to get an up close look at the van at some point Thursday.
The head of the department's IT office established that Porter had been sent an email laying out new seat belt policies, but he could not confirm that he had read the message. -
Here's the van used to transport #FreddieGray being brought to the parking garage of the court just now http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVUTKQ3W4AALozj.jpg
by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 5:17:59 PM -
It's not unprecedented for jury to leave courtroom but I wonder how they keep an official record of such a trip? cc @iduncan @RectorSun -
Jury is going to be taken down to see the van now, sounds like. Bit of trivia: licence plate is LG93597by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 5:08:40 PM
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Now on the stand is a city camera technician which could be a opening for video of stops of the van carrying Freddie Gray to be shownby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 4:43:19 PM
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Sped through the head of IT at the police - email with new seat belt rule was sent to Porter but no way to know if he read or understood itby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 4:42:26 PM
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See how cleverly I tricked you all? Looks like there's another break for something.by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 4:23:56 PM
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Pace is picking up after a slow start. Calling the third witness now. But this morning had been a battle over rules and regulations.by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 4:17:18 PM
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Testimony: Capt. Martin Bartness on the complexity and inanity of internal police rules
Capt. Martin Bartness, the policy department's chief of staff, was subjected to a barrage of questioning from defense lawyer Gary Proctor about the complexity and inanity of internal police rules.
"Would it be fair to say police and procedure is not Baltimore police's top priority?" Proctor asked.
When Bartness didn't answer Proctor added, "They're more interested in catching bad guys?"
"They're both priorities," Bartness said.
The questioning continued with that vein for several minutes. Proctor asked whether it was hard to work a shift without breaking a rule; whether the rules required an officer to wear a certain style of 8-point hat when getting out of a vehicle; and whether following one rule might mean breaking three others.
Bartness did not take the bait, and on questioning from Michael Schatzow he had read out the department's unambiguous new rule on seat-belting people in custody.
"Ensure that the detainee is secured with the provided seat belt," he read. -
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Instructor also testified that he had taught Porter the rules for seat-belting prisoners.by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 3:26:12 PM
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Second witness called to testify in trial of Officer William Porter
One of officer William Porter's police academy instructors acknowledged that violations of the department's general orders are not typically the basis for criminal charges as he faced cross-examination Thursday morning.Joseph Murtha, one of Porter's attorneys, read instructor Agent John Bilheimer a passage of text indicating that violations are only the basis for internal police discipline. Murtha asked the instructor if that was accurate.
"Yes, sir," Bilheimer said.
But prosecutors are also sought to show that the general orders are based on the law, and that Porter was thoroughly trained in his responsibilities to seat-belt a prisoner and not to transport an injured person. Prosecutors allege that by failing to properly secure Freddie Gray in April, Porter is guilty of manslaughter.
Jan Bledsoe, one of the prosecutors, introduced a copy of a training booklet that Porter had filled out and asked Bilheimer to read a section.
"We do not transport injured people," the instructor read to the jury.
The two sides also disputed who had responsibility for a prisoner. Murtha asked Bilheimer if it would be the police transport van driver, and he said it was, but he later acknowledged to Bledsoe that more than one officer could have responsibility at any given time.
It's the fourth day of the trial. Porter entered the court room around 9:30 and chatted with his attorneys.
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But we also heard Porter's own words from a training booklet saying officers shouldn't transport injured people.by Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 3:24:19 PM
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Testimony from Porter's academy instructor: violations of department's general orders not a criminal issue; wagon driver is responsibleby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 3:23:32 PM
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First state witness today was another academy instructor, to discuss training Porter received for transport of detainees.by Kevin Rector via twitter 12/3/2015 3:20:42 PM
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Legal analysis on the Baltimore Police seatbelt policy
Moskos said that in his experience most police seat-belted defendants but that the department's book of general orders is a compilation of complex legal memos — "not a useful how-to guide" for police."It's impossible to follow all of the rules all of the time," said Moskos, now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. He said police need rules that are easier to comprehend and give them flexibility to address a wide range of situations on the street.
But Joe Margulies, a Cornell University law professor, said Gray's arrest and transport should have been uncomplicated, and not a situation in which officers needed to think on their feet or bend rules.
"If the assertion is that how to handle a detained suspect is ambiguous and a nuanced situation over which reasonable people could disagree, that's just mistaken," he said.
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Should Officer William Porter have known to rush Freddie Gray to the hospital?
Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow said a five-second radio call for medical help could have saved Gray's life and that Porter's failure to act was a sign of his chilling indifference. Prosecutors have said that Gray asked for medical help.
A Baltimore Sun investigation after Gray's death showed that city police often disregard or are oblivious to injuries and illnesses among people they apprehend. Over nearly three years, records show correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center have refused to admit nearly 2,600 detainees who were in police custody.
Gary Proctor, one of Porter's lawyers, described how suspects regularly fake injuries to avoid going straight to jail — a phenomenon known as "jailitis" — which ends up wasting officers' time. The first person Porter ever arrested faked a seizure, the lawyer said.
Porter knew Gray's history as someone who gave arresting officers trouble, Proctor told jurors, saying that one time he had tried to kick out he windows of a police cruiser.
"There was no outward sign of any injury," Proctor added.
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A change to the Baltimore Police seatbelt policyPolice Department orders have specified since 1997 that prisoners must be seat-belted, unless doing so would put an officer in danger, Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow told the jury. A few months before Freddie Gray was arrested, the department updated that policy to remove the exemption, making clear that all suspects must be seat-belted.Officer WIlliam G. Porter received word of the new policy by email on April 9, Schatzow said."The defendant was bound by it," he said.Porter knew the rules because he had been trained on them at the police academy, Schatzow said. A former military combat medic who became an instructor taught him about emergency care, Schatzow said, telling him that if someone asks for a medic to get them one. Porter also was taught to seat belt anyone put into a police vehicle, Schatzow said.But Gary Proctor, one of Porter's lawyers, countered that training at the academy was brief and covered a lot of ground. While Porter was there, Proctor said, a cadet was shot in the head by an instructor. The cadet was left without an eye, and the instructor was convicted of reckless endangerment and jailed."It isn't some Ivy League school," Proctor said.As for the updated policy, Proctor said officers received thousands of emails and could only check them at outdated computers at the office. The defense lawyer said another officer will testify that in 2,000 arrests he could count the number of times he had seat-belted a prisoner on one hand."Officer Porter didn't even know there was a rule," Proctor told the jury: "You can't hold him accountable for what nobody did."
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How did we get to this point?
Officer William Porter is the first of six officers to stand trial in Gray's arrest and death in April.
Since then a debate has raged over policing in Baltimore's majority African-American neighborhoods. Outrage over Gray's death and simmering tensions over police treatment of residents fueled days of protests that erupted into riots, arson and looting on the day of his funeral.
The Justice Department is in the midst of a full-scale civil rights investigation of the department. The agency had already launched a collaborative review of the department after a Baltimore Sun investigation found that the city had paid nearly $6 million since 2011 in court judgments and settlements in lawsuits alleging brutality and other misconduct. -
Two versions of being a cop in Baltimore on show in Porter trial
Jurors got two very different versions Wednesday of what it was like to be William Porter as a relatively inexperienced officer policing the streets of West Baltimore.
Which perspective the jury accepts could help them decide whether to convict Porter of manslaughter, the most serious charge he faces, legal experts said.
Prosecutors argued that officers have a clear set of rules and that failing to follow them — as they allege Porter did by not seat-belting Freddie Gray in a transport wagon or getting him medical care — is a serious criminal offense.
The defense, however, portrayed a dysfunctional police department that rushes officers to the streets without proper training, forcing them to learn as they go and follow the advice of veterans rather than standards and rules.
Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow discussed police procedures at length, detailing the department's rules regarding the treatment of suspects and the training Porter received at the police academy.
In his presentation, Gary Proctor, one of Porter's lawyers, described the difficulties faced by officers who are often on the beat with insufficient backup and confront uncooperative suspects who resist arrest and would rather go to the hospital than jail. -
Also from yesterday: Trial asks, for police is it hard and fast rules or beat wisdom that determine how police act? fw.to/o8IpF2Nby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 2:18:06 PM
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Meanwhile, get caught up with yesterday's opening statements as the trial kicked off fw.to/2POW6uKby Ian Duncan via twitter 12/3/2015 2:16:59 PM
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Courtroom sketch during the William Porter trial about the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Displaying an enlarged photo of the police van and a map showing the route traveled, states attorney Michael Schatzow points toward defendant William Porter as he gives his opening statement to the jury. At the bottom right Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby looks on. (William Hennessy /CourtroomArt.com)
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Today is a new dynamic again. Whereas Mon & Tues were jury selection, yesterday openings, today will likely be a solid block of witnesses.by Kevin Rector via twitter edited by The Baltimore Sun 12/3/2015 1:43:13 PM
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DAY FOUR
The trial against a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray enters the first full day of witness testimony on Thursday after opening statements unfolded a day earlier.
The first witness in the case against Officer William G. Porter was called Wednesday after a jury of 12 and four alternates was seated following two days of selection under the guidance of Judge Barry G. Williams.